Ghost Rider: Redemption
by Black Scepter
Summary: Remake of the first part of my old fic Ghost Rider. 16 year old Sora Shimomura is one of the most feared outcasts in his school, however when he is cursed to become a bounty hunter to destroy the evil of the world and save innocent souls, he finds out there is a chance to save his own.
1. Chapter 1: Path to Darkness

Hello everyone, this is the first chapter of the remake of my old fic Ghost Rider. What you see here is used as the script for the Audio Adaption, which I urge you to listen to because it is ten times better to hear.

This chapter was originally performed by:

Honeybun Senpai: Young Sora Shimomura (Ages 8-14)  
>Elena Crall: Kairi Nomura<br>Verso: Namine Nomura, Fuu Grace, Yuffie Kisaragi  
>Philossus: Mephisto and Rai Marino<br>IcesWolf25: Tifa Lockhart  
>JDExists: Wakka Arundel and the one of the Narrators<br>Coconut: Paine Parks  
>Nick Smithberger: Seifer Almasy<br>Sweetblood: Riku Uematsu  
>Austin Nebbia: Tidus Davidge<br>Jessica Fernando: Sora's Mother  
>Peach Gore: Main Narrator<br>Michael Fri: Teacher

Without ado, let us go back again into the new yet familiar story of Sora Shimomura...

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><p>Chapter 1: Path to Darkness<p>

_It is raining..._

_"No please!"_

_Lightning flashes..._

_"No...please!"_

_Thunder booms..._

_"No don't! Don't!"_

_A child cries..._

_"Please no!"_

_The young boy pleaded as tentacles reached out at him, he fell to the ground and desperately clawed at the wet mud the rain produced to prevent him from being carried away. A man laughed at the six year olds futile attempt of escape as the tentacles dragged him towards the blood red portal._

"_I'm sorry, but if I can't have HIM. Then I'll take you," The man answered coolly. _

"_Please! I'll do anything! Anything!" The boy sobbed, but then the man held his hand out and the boy stopped moving._

"_Anything you say?" The man asked in a quiet voice._

_The boy continued to sob, "Yes anything! Please let me go!"_

"_Will you… work for me?" The man asked, and the boy was so afraid that he nodded quickly._

"_Yes, yes I will. Please let me go…" _

_The man smiled evilly, "As you wish." _

_He snapped his fingers, the tentacles pulled away from the boy, who curled into a fetal position as the man walked towards the portal._

"_I will go now and I will stay away for a long time. But, one day I will come for you, and you will work for me. You will not be able to say no, you will have no decision in this matter, because its either you work for me...or I drag you back down to where you belong... understand?" _

_The young boy nodded and the man laughed, "Good, I have a feeling this will be a long and healthy working relationship. I will see you soon, Sora Shimomura."_

_The man disappeared, leaving Sora in the rain. Being a boy of young age all he could do was curl up and cry; he cried with fear and sadness. Little did the boy know that on this dark, horrible, rainy day would be the day that would define him for the rest of his life._

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><p><strong>Six Years Later<strong>

"Sora! You need to wake up; you can't be late on the first day of school!"

Sora woke from his fearful nightmare, memories of that dark rainy night plagued him, and even after six years he woke in a fearful cold sweat. He sat up and rubbed his eyes wearily, he hated the first day of a new school His mom, being a single parent, worked throughout most of the day so the first day of a new school was always terror. Especially since this day was the first day of High School, a different High School than the one his other friends are going to. Which meant Sora would be an outcast for the first day, and he hated more than anything. He ran downstairs and found his mother at the table waiting for him, she had gotten up early and had breakfast all ready for him.

"Morning sleepy," she teased, Sora grumbled a response and sat down at the table. Silently eating his breakfast, it was harder than usual because his mother was also making sure he remembered everything.

"You have the cell phone right?" Sora nodded. "You know the number to my cell?"

Sora hesitated, she told him it before but it left his head, the silence told his mother he couldn't remember. "Its in the contact list, but I am also on speed dial."

Sora nodded in affirmation, with his mother's questions out of the way he went back to his breakfast. As he was finishing up the honk of the bus horn was heard and Sora was suddenly hurried to move, he would have been out of the door sooner...but his mother was once again slowing him down with reminders.

"You have your backpack?"

"Its over my shoulder mom."

"You have the cellphone?"

"Its in my pocket mom."

"Are you wearing underwear?"

"Mom!" Sora turned to her, red faced, "Yes I have underwear!"

"Just making sure you are listening," she gave a knowing smile, "You remember my number?"

"Its in the contact list, I'll try to have it memorized."

"Good," she said, watching her son walk to the front door she called out. "Wait, Sora."

Sora paused as she walked over to the front door, pushed her blonde hair out of her face, and gave her son a kiss.

"Your father would be proud."

Sora flinched, if his father was so great then where the hell is he? Sora only knew his father for five years and then bam, he was out of his life. Sora didn't know nor care where he went, he just wanted to forget about him. But it was hard when his mom kept making comments like, 'your father would be proud', or, 'like father like son', or the ever popular, 'you like just like him when (insert moment here).' Either way Sora was tired of it, but he let her get away with it because he knew she cared about him.

"Right mom, well goodbye," Sora nodded and he ran for the school bus.

Sora's house was set upon a hill and due to the old dark wood that the house was made of; it had seen better days, his mom would love to fix it, but being a single parent the money she earned went to getting food for her and her son. The school bus refused to drive up the hill so Sora had to run down the road to get to the bus before it took off, by the time he finally made it he was already tired and he was met with a nightmare as he got on the bus; there was only one seat that was not filled with other people...near the back of the bus; he had to sit near the back row with the senior students. The young boy gulped as he slowly moved to the back, the older kids giving him odd looks and strange smirks. As Sora sat down in his seat he could hear chuckles coming from behind him and gave a sigh.

"Something tells me this will be the death of me."

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><p>Beyond the chuckles, and foreboding creep Sora got up his spine...the bus ride was uneventful; though getting off the bus was a nightmare. It was as if the entire back row decided to get up and trample him in a sea of backpacks and shoves, poor Sora was trapped in his seat until everyone had left the bus. Hilariously enough, finding his classroom was the only easy part of the entire day - despite all the hecticness, he was able to find his classroom in a relatively short time. Sora sat down as homeroom was beginning, the teacher introduced himself and they were about to begin their first lesson when the door opened and two girls walked inside; one had long blonde hair while the other was bright red, despite the contrasting hair colors they were both very much alike facially, they must have been sisters.<p>

"Ah, Kairi and Namine Nomura, please make an effort to be on time in the future. Mayor's daughters or not, I don't want to have to put you two in detention over something like this."

Upon hearing something about those two being the daughters of the mayor Sora craned his neck to get a better view of them. His jaw dropped when he caught sight of the red head; she was gorgeous, even at the age of deciding girls were not so icky as he thought they were he could admit she was very beautiful. The way her hair cascaded over her shoulders and covered one of her lovely eyes made Sora's heart skip two beats. His mind entranced a very dangerous thought...if he could just sit next to her, strike up a conversation, maybe he'd get to spend more time with this redhead. Maybe he'd actually get some friends on his first day, and if its her of all people that would be just the best.

However reality crushed in his daydream, it was then Sora remembered what he was in this school; a newbie, of course everybody here was a newbie in this school, but Sora was the only one who came from another part of town. And judging by the way Kairi spoke to everyone it was obvious she knew everyone in the classroom, except for Sora. He placed his head on the desk and he sighed sadly, he was only here for five minutes and already he felt more alone than ever. He already hated this school, and (for some reason) he began to hate the people here.

* * *

><p>Lunch was hell. This probably will not be the last time you hear something being compared to hell, as bluntly put as it sounds lunch was currently hell on earth for Sora at least. He sat at a table alone, which was odd for a freshman not trying to converse with other freshman, try to make friends and all that. Sora was not anti social, he was just shy, and unfortunately that shyness deprives him from a lot of things in life.<p>

So when Sora saw Kairi enter the lunchroom with a few friends of hers he mentally pleaded that he didn't have to sit here alone, as odd as it sounds he wanted company, but he didn't want to be the one to make the first move (because the first move meant Sora would look like a fool if he was turned down). Most of Sora's life he relied on people to make the first move, he was always the one who made the second (maybe third) move because he felt more comfortable making the second move (or third). It was a system that worked for Sora all of his life, don't open yourself to mistakes you never make any and save your dignity.

Sora heard Kairi and her friends talking and he was able to pick up a few of the words they said.

"I don't know about you guys, but I already hate High School," a boy proclaimed, his dirty blonde hair fell in his face.

"Hahah, come on Tidus you only hate High School because you actually have to put down 100 percent of your attention on work," a silver haired boy laughed, his long silver hair over his shoulders and obscured his vision slightly.

"Now, now, Riku," a boy with bright orange hair grinned, a hint of a Jamaican accent in his voice, "I seem to remember someone who kept passing notes to a certain redhead in class."

"Hey no need for the personal attacks Wakka," Riku warned, "What about you and that Goth chick I saw you talking to?"

"We're only friends," Wakka frowned.

Tidus smirked, "Friendly terms with a girl who is anti social with everybody but you? Sure…"

"No fighting please," Namine mumbled, Sora didn't even notice her there, "I don't want any yelling."

"Ok boys settle down," Kairi laughed, "Let's find a table."

Embarrassment took ahold in his gut as the group walked to him, Sora made sure not to make eye contact, for he feared they would see in his eyes the silent plea for them to sit next to him. They were coming closer, his heart began to flutter, and maybe he wouldn't have to sit alone during lunch.

"Hey Kairi, over here!"

Sora lifted his head and looked across the room, there he saw a girl with short dark hair with another girl with red hair held up by two pigtails.

"Yuffie, Vanille! Come on guys we can sit there," Kairi pointed over to the other girls, and Sora felt his heart fall just as it rose earlier.

He watched sadly as the group moved away from his table and over to the other one, he moodily stabbed his potato and cursed his hopefulness.

"Sora? Sora Shimomura I can't believe it!"

Sora's head jerked up and he looked behind him and he couldn't believe who it was either.

"T-Tifa Lockhart?" Sora gasped as a sixteen year old ran up to his table.

Tifa Lockhart was neighbors with Sora when they were younger, she babysat him a few times when she was old enough. One day she transferred to another school and she and Sora hadn't seen each other since, however seeing her now made Sora feel a little better, she always looked after him and helped him make him feel better when he was sad. Something Sora held onto a lot in his youth. She sat down at the table and she gave Sora a massive hug, then she pulled away from him and Sora just realized how much she changed over the years. She had much longer hair, she was definitely more taller and a little more…what was the word... feminine. All Sora could think was that this girl could definitely capture the eyes of the all men in this room.

"Oh my god how long has it been, a few years?" Tifa laughed as she sat down next to Sora.

"Yeah that sounds right, you look different than what I remember."

"What did you expect?" Tifa playfully socked his arm, "You look different than I remember as well."

"Well, what did you expect?" Sora chuckled while rubbing the arm Tifa socked.

Tifa giggled at Sora rubbing his arm and she tilted her head a little, "So what are you doing here all alone?"

Sora's smile dropped into a frown and he went back to stabbing his potato, "Oh no reason I...I like being alone, no chaos, no people to bug me...you know..."

Sora shouldn't have been surprised that Tifa saw through him, her critical stare was all that was needed for Sora to amend his words and tell the truth.

"I don't feel like I belong here, that's all."

"Oh come on," Tifa smiled, "You're selling yourself too short. A guy like you could easily fit here, why don't you go talk to people?"

Sora went red in the face and he mumbled, "I… I don't know. I mean...I just moved here, maybe I should wait a few days and then try..."

Tifa sighed, she took Sora's arm, and led him out of the chair, "I refuse to have you sit here alone, now go and make friends."

When Sora realized Tifa was not letting him back at the table until he at least talked to someone he sighed, picked up his tray, and looked around for someone to approach - someone kind and friendly, someone he found interesting.

Please don't act surprised that Sora decided to approach the group of people with the very pretty red head, I mean, what fourteen year old boy wouldn't? That's a rhetorical question by the way, don't answer that.

Tifa sat back down and she watched him slowly walk over to the table across from him. Sora felt his heart begin to race as he edged closer to the table with Kairi and all of her friends, as he was walking he was planning his greeting; it would go something like 'hi, I don't want to sit will all the seniors so do you guys mind if I sit here?' It was perfect, it didn't sound too needy and he would be able to sit alongside them. He felt his heart beat so powerfully he was half afraid that someone might actually hear his racing heart, he was so close to the table and he had his greeting all planed out. But then by some misfortune (also known as spilt milk from a broken milk carton) Sora slipped, he fell forward and lost grip of his food tray and it flew in front of him and landed… on a certain red head girl's clothes.

Sora moaned in pain and he heard some distinct yelling, then when he looked up he realized the yelling was directed at him.

"You klutz!" Tidus shouted as he grabbed a few napkins from the dispenser there.

"What's wrong with you man!" Wakka growled.

"No it's okay," Kairi mumbled, "It was probably an accident."

"An accident?" Riku laughed, "That guy practically threw it on you."

"Aren't you going to apologize?" The dark haired girl named Yuffie asked.

Sora felt tears of embarrassment burn in his eyes, he quickly got up and he walked shamefully back towards his table. No words, no anything, he could still hear the demands and jeers of everyone behind them as he sat back at the table he was at before. Head buried in his arms, not wanting to look, not anyone want to see him cry. Tifa had her hand over her mouth in shock, and when she saw Sora silently pour tears of embarrassment she felt tears of her own well up. It was then and there Tifa decided on something; she turned to Sora and whispered in his ear.

"Meet me at the front of the school after class; I have something to show you."

* * *

><p>Classes went by like lightning that day, but the burn and pain of the lunchroom fiasco burned in Sora's mind. He walked out of the front doors and saw Tifa leaning against her car, when she saw Sora approaching she waved at him and he ran over to her.<p>

"Okay I'm here what do you want to show me?" Sora asked, however Tifa seemed to kind of zone out for a moment.

Then she turned to the crowd and waved at a boy with bright blonde spiky hair.

"Hi Cloud!"

The boy named Cloud looked back at her and waved, but then his attention turned to another girl who came out of the school. She had light brown hair, green eyes, her hair was in a long ponytail, and she wore a bright pink dress and brown shoes. She and Cloud talked for a bit and then they both walked off to join another boy with dark brown hair, Tifa's face fell and she kind of leaned sadly against her car.

"Do you... like that boy or something?" Sora asked, looking at the blonde boy who had just walked off.

Tifa didn't respond to his question, she just stared off at the retreating figure until he was a black blur in the blinding sunset. Then she opened her car door and motioned for Sora to get in, "I want you to meet some people, some friends of mine I met when I first moved here."

"What kind of people?" Sora asked as he got into the passenger's side of the car, buckling up he heard Tifa's somber reply.

"People who know what it feels like to be alone."

No other words, no questions were spoken during the half an hour of driving, Tifa parked the car in a parking lot and then she led Sora to an alley way across the road. They walked for a bit down the alley until they approached a secluded spot where a tarp covered a door sized hole, Tifa pulled the tarp open and she disappeared for a bit, then she came out and motioned for Sora to walk in.

Sora walked inside and he nearly gasped in awe, the area seemed to be an empty space in the alley maybe once used for storage, it was filled with furniture, an arcade, a table or two, a few lamps, and a cooler out in the corner. A soft hum from the side came from the generator that was used to power some of these nice items, while the inside wasn't air conditioned it still was comfortable. It felt...homey, like that special place you have where you can just relax and forget about the world outside. After his moment of awe he realized he was not alone, there was a bunch of people here too, they each turned to Sora and they smiled warmly.

"A newcomer?" asked a girl with silver hair with a black top with and shorts.

"Welcome," a monotonous voice greeted, it came from a girl with short silver hair that obscured one of her eyes.

"Yo Tifa who's this?" asked a man who wore an orange shirt and dark skin.

Tifa smiled back at them, "Paine, Fuu, Rai, this is Sora. He's one of my friends."

For a moment Sora felt a stab of worry, what if he was going to be rejected here just like at the school? The boy known as Rai smiled at Sora, a smile that dashed all of Sora's worries in a single moment. "Any friend of Tifa's is a friend of mine, how you doing?"

Sora smiled back, for some reason, even though he barely knew these people, he felt welcome here. He spent the next few minutes talking with these people and the feeling just blossomed from there. Rai Marino was from the upper north part of the city, he had two younger sisters and parents who were lucky if they even walked through the front door.

"Can't say why they left, I don't even know myself. All I know is that I was suddenly the father and caretaker of two young girls who needed taking care of, for five years of my life I sacrificed keeping them fed and safe - I had to do things most kids my age wouldn't dare do, but I did them because I loved my sisters." Sora had asked where they were and Rai answered, "One of them is in Juvenile Hall, doing some time for repeated counts of petty theft and the other...ran off with a boy who could promise her enough needles to escape reality."

Paine had a similar story to Rai, except her story differed in terms of their parents. "My mother had me when she was young, a one night stand gone wrong and she was soon alone in taking care of a young girl. She did it though, got a job, raised me herself. Until last year...she fell ill, quite ill, and money is tight with medical bills stacking up. My mother...she was a good mother, even though her life was rough. No one saw that good in her though, they only saw the teenage pregnant mother who is now ill from her years of being an irresponsible teenager."

Fuu was the only one who didn't talk of her story, when asked she only responded with one word. "Private."

Even as Sora related his own side of the story he felt a sense of belonging here...for maybe the first time in his life. He heard a noise and he saw someone come into the room; he was tall with blonde hair tucked into a snowcap, he wore a white sleeveless jacket and he had a scar between his eyes.

"Tifa, who's this?" The boy asked, jutting his head towards Sora.

"Seifer, this is Sora. He's one of my friends and I thought he could fit here," Then Tifa added in a whisper, "He's just like us; he doesn't seem to fit in with everyone."

The boy named Seifer looked back and forth between Sora and Tifa, then he sighed and he said, "Tifa, lets talk for a moment."

Seifer turned to another tarp that led into a room, with Tifa behind him. A small stab of dread entered Sora until a strangely comforting hand from Fuu was guided to his shoulder.

"He will understand, he always does."

A few moments later Tifa walked out with Seifer, he turned to Sora he motioned for him to follow him and he waited inside. Sora hesitated and then he walked inside, Seifer beckoned him to sit down.

"Tifa told me you don't fit in with the people at the school, maybe you can explain to me better on why?" Seifer asked, and Sora recapped his entire story about what happened to him, about his father and how no one seems to want to understand or talk to him when he got to the lunchroom incident and how he couldn't seem to fit in everywhere he went, a light went up in Seifer's eyes.

"They didn't give you a chance to explain?"

Sora hesitated, the red head Kairi might have listened...if her friends didn't interject otherwise. "No...no they didn't, none of them."

Seifer nodded, "That does seem bad..."

There was a strange pause in the air, as if the young blonde was contemplating a decision. "Tell you what Sora; how would you like to show them your pain?"

Sora jumped a bit, "W-what do you mean, you mean… kill them?"

"No, no," Seifer assured, "Not kill them no, just… show them what it's like to feel alone, to have them feel your sadness. Then maybe they can understand how you feel."

"H-how would I do that?"

Seifer's eyes narrowed, "Do onto them what they did onto you in that lunchroom."

Sora paused at this, Seifer could see his hesitation and he added, "I'm not forcing you, Tifa doesn't feel comfortable about it either. Rai, Fuu, Paine, and I do it, because like you we feel forgotten and alone and sometimes being quiet doesn't produce the results we want. If we want people to listen, we need to kick and scream at them."

Sora saw it in Seifer's eyes, it echoed in pain and loneliness. I know that sounds like the lamest way to describe it, but those eyes of his may as well been Sora's eyes; the same eyes he looks at in the mirror every morning of his life.

Seifer stood up and he walked over to Sora, "If you don't feel comfortable you can always-"

"No," Sora cut him off, "I… I'm tired of feeling alone, I'm tired of crying, and I hate it more than anything."

Sora looked at Seifer, in that moment he had stopped crying...stopped feeling sad...no now he felt MAD. Anger, pulsed through him like his own heart beat, he was grinning of the thought in the people who yelled at him feeling his pain his embarrassment and loneliness. If Sora was going to 'do onto them what they did onto him', then he was going to pay back their 'kindness' ten fold.

"I'm in."


	2. Chapter 2: No Regrets

Okay everyone, because it's Valentine's Day I decided I love you guys so much to release Chapter 2 a bit earlier than I intended. There are some new scenes and upgraded dialogue, so it's not a rehash of the original chapter. Everyone was awesome during these scenes and like last time I encourage you to go check out how it was performed in the Audio Drama version on my account, which is the same name as this one **TheBlackScepter**.

Before we begin, I do have another little promotion thing: I've actually been working on another fanfic with another author:** Kingofclubs8129**, on a KH and Naruto crossover fic called** Fated to the Forge**. If you like KH...wait, you're here so that's redundant, if you like Naruto then have a look. And if you're sitting there going 'how does that work', well I also urge you to go read and have a look on how we make it work. It's a co-collaborative process, he writes some and I write some. I usually tend to handle all the KH characters while he does the Naruto ones, so that's how you can find who wrote what.

That's all, this chapter was originally performed by:

Michael Fri: Sora Shimomura  
>Elena Crall: Kairi Nomura<br>Verso: Yuffie Kisaragi  
>Sweetblood: Riku Uematsu<br>Austin Nebbia: Tidus Davidge  
>Philossus: Mephisto<br>JDExists: Wakka Arundel  
>Iceswolf25: Tifa Lockhart<br>with Peach Gore and JDExists as the Narrator  
>and Jessica Fernando: A Teacher<p>

Let's begin.

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><p>Chapter 2: No Regrets<p>

_Two years later (Present day)_

"Kairi, are we still up for tonight?" Yuffie asked, she propped herself against the locker next to Kairi's.

Kairi smiled and she nodded, "Yep, Vanille and I are going to be taking a ride with Tidus and Riku, you're going with Wakka right?"

Yuffie nodded and then she spun the lock for her locker, but when she opened it a jet of smelly green liquid shot out and spilled all over Yuffie's shirt. Yuffie gagged at the foul odor that erupted from the green fluid, Kairi covered her mouth as well and the sound of maniacal laughter erupted from behind Yuffie.

"Ooh how sexy! Tell me Yuffie, I hope you are not trying to seduce me or something. Because the 'perfume' you're wearing is unbearable."

Yuffie looked behind her and growled a single name, "Sora…"

Sora Shimomura leaned against the locker, his face was etched in an evil grin, however when he saw the two girls glare at him angrily he burst into a laugh of satisfaction. Kairi walked in front of Yuffie and met Sora eye to eye.

"Listen here jerk, what gives you the right to come around and terrorize us? What makes you think you're so untouchable?!" Kairi nearly screeched.

Sora put on a look of mock hurt, "Oh Kairi I am hurt, and here I thought you had an attraction for me. Just like your crush on Squall Leonhart?"

Kairi's face flushed with anger and embarrassment, "Haven't you humiliated me enough at the dance months ago? Haven't you had your fun when you told the entire school?!"

Sora mimicked a look of thoughtfulness in which he answered bluntly, "Nope, I'm just getting started."

"Hey! Why don't you leave them alone?"

Sora casually looked over his shoulder and sighed, "Riku, Wakka, Tidus, I don't plan to. So why don't you make me?"

Riku glared at Sora— even though he couldn't see it— and he snarled, "Don't you have the brains to know when to not start a fight? Or are you as pathetic as that leather jacket you wear?"

There was a collection of 'oohs' in the crowd and Riku smirked, but it seemed that his comment did nothing to Sora for instead he grinned evilly and laughed.

"Are you ever going buck up and tell Vanille you like her? Or were you going to tonight during your little midnight candlelit dinner I heard you were planning?"

Riku's jaw dropped and he began to stutter, "How did— why you little—"

Sora smirked, two years had been very good to him: Tifa had taught him self defense (he did swear to her he wouldn't use it unless attacked, and Sora always kept his word to Tifa), Fuu taught him how to be stealthy— or to be invisible— to his enemies, Paine and Rai showed him intimidation and how to be a wraith to everyone, and Seifer taught him how to be unflinching in the face of confrontation and put up a confident facade, in other words he showed him how to be a good liar.

"I heard enough!" Tidus shouted, he ran towards Sora and launched his fist at him.

Sora sidestepped his punch and stuck his foot out, tripping Tidus and he slammed right into the lockers. Wakka lunged out and grabbed Sora from behind in a vice-like grip, but it didn't work when Sora leaned his body weight forward and with a hefty shove; threw Wakka next to Tidus. Riku ran at Sora as he was leaning and threw a kick at him, which landed square on his butt. Sora stumbled forward a bit, putting his hands on the locker for support. Riku took this as a sign and ran up to grab him, this was a mistake. Sora had spun around, grabbed Riku's head and slammed it against the metal lockers, soon the silver haired boy joined Tidus and Wakka on the floor.

"What's going on here?!" A teacher called out from the hall, Sora brushed his jacket and calmly turned to the teacher.

"I was just walking by here ma'am when these three," Sora pointed to Riku, Wakka, and Tidus, "Tried to pick a fight with me, I didn't want to fight but they didn't want to listen, I tried to walk away and Tidus attacked me."

"Hey! You started it you punk!" Tidus yelled, but Sora wagged his finger at him.

"Oh really Tidus? Then who threw the first punch, me or you?"

Tidus opened his mouth but no sound came out, then Yuffie stepped forward and gestured at her shirt.

"They were only looking after me because this moron planted a stink bomb in my locker!"

The teacher turned to Sora, her eyes narrowed, "Is this true Sora?"

Sora frowned a bit, but then a devilish smirk crossed his face, "No I do not know what she is talking about, but that reminds me, stink bombs… aren't the chemistry labs working with materials like those? The same class you take Yuffie?"

Yuffie's eyes widened a little, "Y-yes I do, but—"

"And from what Tifa told me; isn't your homework assignment to use said similar materials for a project?" Sora continued, his eyes shining with an evil enthusiasm.

"Yes we do, but that's—"

Sora scoffed, "Well the answer is simple; the materials she was supposed to use backfired in her locker and in result; her shirt was stained."

The teacher frowned a bit, "There have been reports of some of the materials backfiring on students. The plastic bags holding the liquid are old and are quite thin..."

"Hold on!" Kairi called out, a grin on her face, "I have the materials too, and they are perfectly fine. I just put them in my locker so if I open it and it doesn't shoot out, then Sora has been lying."

Sora looked at Kairi, then to Kairi's surprise he bowed and answered, "Okay then go and open it."

Kairi had to suppress a giggle, there was no way Sora could have rigged her locker in the last minute, it was impossible. Kairi spun her combo, gave Sora a look of triumph, opened her locker... and was met with a jet of green liquid that splashed on her face. Kairi stood there dumbfounded, not from the awful smell...but at the chance of victory stolen from her, she looked at Sora and back at her locker.

"How did you— that's impossible!"

"Kairi, Kairi, Kairi…" Sora smiled condescendingly, "I'm afraid you just proved it was possible, the chemicals did backfire just like Yuffie's did."

"What!" Kairi panicked, "No! You can't get away with this!"

The teacher frowned and he said, "But Ms. Nomura, this was your idea to test with your locker."

"But he— you can't!" Kairi nearly sobbed, which filled Sora with a dark satisfaction.

The teacher looked defeated herself, even no matter how much she suspected him there was just not enough to get him on. She handed Kairi and Yuffie some towels to wash the fluids off with, the students all went their separate ways and Sora shook his head at her.

Kairi turned at Sora, she was dangerously close to crying as she shrieked at him, "I hate you Sora! I hope you go to hell!"

Sora didn't respond to that comment as Kairi and the others walked off, giving Sora nasty glances as they walked off. Sora chuckled at his brilliance, it was a good idea to rig other students lockers prior to Kairi's otherwise he really would be found out, as for how Kairi's went off...well that was a trade secret. He walked over to his locker, opened it, and pulled out his text books.

_Sora…_

Sora nearly jumped at the voice, it was low, deep, and oddly chilling the air. He looked down the halls to see if he could see where the voice came from, but he couldn't see anyone and he shrugged it off and he walked off to his class. He was only halfway down the hall when the voice called out to him again.

_Sora, remember your promise, remember our agreement?_

Sora swore he heard this voice before, but he was feeling really uneasy so he sped off to his class, hoping to leave the ominous voice behind him.

* * *

><p>When Sora had sped off to his class he didn't see the man in the shadows, the man who had been watching this little scene with great interest. The man had gray hair that receded to a thin crown on his head, he wore a dark suit that overlapped his shoulders, and he had a cane that had a crystal skull for the handle.<p>

"Ah, I never thought I would have to play my cards so early. However, a situation has risen," The man said to himself, "I need a rider. So sorry Sora... but your time as a free man is up."

The man tapped his cane on the floor and he faded away, leaving a bone chilling aura in the air as he left.

* * *

><p>While Sora was left with the chills on an unseen man. Tidus, Wakka, and Riku were at the front of the school, nursing injuries as well as pride. Once again despite their size and age, one guy had defeated them in ways that would crush their spirit.<p>

"I don't know about you guys, but I am getting tired of this." Tidus confessed, "how exactly in our time at school this one guy push us around so easily?"

"I ask that question every damn day after school." Wakka sighed in frustration.

"Yeah I mean, what the hell is his problem with us?! I mean, what the hell did we ever do to him to get two years of this crap?!"

"It wasn't so bad last year." Wakka admitted, sounding very defeated. "It was small stuff, but now its been everything from stink bombs, public humiliation, I am pretty sure he's the one stealing things from my locker too."

"Its not just you buddy," Tidus said, Wakka turned to him in surprise the and the blond boy nodded, "My stuff is missing too, its to the point where I just keep everything within my sight and don't even use my locker anymore."

Wakka had opened his mouth to speak when Yuffie had stepped out from the front doors, she looked around for a moment and when she spotted the three boys.

"Hey guys, I have been looking for you." she said, "Are you...okay?"

"Nevermind me," Tidus shook his head. "What about Kairi?"

Yuffie was quiet and when the normally talkative Yuffie is dead silent, it means that it is indeed as worse as they thought.

"We should be with her." Wakka said, standing up. "Come on guys."

Tidus stood up as well, the three of them were about to walk inside when suddenly the very quiet Riku spoke.

"Some days...when I see him in the hall... I sometimes think about..." Riku paused, leaving his sentence hanging in the air. Wakka and Tidus stared at him for a moment when suddenly it clicked to them what he meant, the two boys looked appalled as Yuffie's mouth opened in shock.

"Don't joke about stuff like that," Tidus warned. "That stuff gets a lot of people hurt, it won't solve this problem."

"I know!" Riku shouted, "I am just...I am just frustrated, I am sorry guys you're right, that kind of crap isn't worth it."

Wakka and Tidus felt very unsure of the way Riku was talking – if he was starting to get those kind of thoughts then they knew they were in trouble. Yuffie was rooted in her spot, not sure if she should comfort him or be angry at him for even suggesting what he is suggesting.

"Riku, things will get better, we just need to-"

"When huh?!" Riku shouted, getting up from his seat. "When are things going to be better?! Tomorrow? Next week? How long do we have to endure this...how long do we have to watch him get away! How does Kairi have to...how long should she..."

Riku broke off and stormed away from the others, stopping near the second set of entrance doors he kept his back to them. Yuffie hesitantly moved to him but before she could get close enough he decided to walk inside the school instead, he probably needed time to cool off.

"Did you believe what you said?"

Yuffie turned to Wakka, who was staring at her with a critical expression. "Do I believe what?"

"Do you truly believe things are going to get better? That one day he's just going to stop?"

Yuffie had opened her mouth to answer...but no sound came from her lips.

* * *

><p>"Sora? Are you ok?" Tifa asked as Sora was shuddering oddly.<p>

"Hm?" Sora turned to Tifa, "I'm great, it's just I'm feeling oddly cold today. Maybe I'm getting sick or something."

Tifa was about to say something when she noticed the other students walk in. Including Kairi, Rikku, Yuffie, Namine, and Wakka and they each gave Sora a dark glare, except Namine who just avoided making eye contact with Sora.

"I heard you stink bombed Kairi and Yuffie this morning," Tifa frowned, "Did you really have to do that?"

Sora looked at her, "Whats with the sudden third degree? You never cared about what I do as long as I stayed away from Cloud Strife."

"I am just saying..." Tifa paused, trying to choose her next words carefully. "Maybe you should lay low for awhile...you've been really pushing the level of teasing with them."

A rush of satisfaction went up Sora's spine, he forced away a grin and kept his face impassive. "Yeah sure...I'll think about it."

If Sora had looked up at her face, he would have known Tifa saw right through his little promise. It left her to think what had she created those two years ago when she introduced him to Seifer, how it changed him. She watched him go from an emotional teenage boy to a cruel, calculating little terror who made a lot of kids lives miserable. It was something that plagued her nightmares, like Frankenstein who was left awake to wonder if her creation really had promise to the world. What stopped her was seeing how happy Sora was with Seifer and his gang, how he belonged with them, probably the most happy she'd seen him.

"Well here's something to change your mind; I've been told to give a message from Seifer; he says if you want to join the big leagues, don't forget about tonight."

Sora whirled his head to Tifa, "They're finally going to let me in on this project they've been doing for the past year now?"

Tifa nodded, "Yes, he also told me to ask you to bring the...'secret stash'? Well Seifer says in order to be accepted in, you have to bring the stuff to the museum on Fifth and Fourth Avenue."

"The stash?" Sora asked, a flash of worry crossed his face. "Oh, alright yeah I'll bring it."

Tifa suddenly felt a rush of dread and found herself asking the question she didn't want to ask, "Do you know what the stash is...?"

"Yeah, it's just some powertools and such, for building and repairing. Don't worry about it."

Tifa gave a reluctant nod and didn't ask anymore, Sora felt bad about lying to her but if she knew what the stash was she'd freak. He did the first time Seifer showed him it, but was assured they weren't going to use it on people – they just needed it to get things that they couldn't get on their own. Any doubts Sora had about it went away, he trusted and owed a lot to Seifer; whatever he wanted he would do it for him no questions asked. Even if it meant doing something dangerous, then again it was more of a matter of getting the stuff there safely, I mean after all explosives are very dangerous in incapable hands...

* * *

><p><em>The air was cold and damp, but the figure wasn't trying to focus on the subject as he poured some black powder in a pot of human blood. The figure twirled the blood in a circle with a golden finger until a tiny whirlpool was visible in the small pot, he had to resist the urge to lick the blood and stave his pain, but there were more important problems at hand than his own. He studied the ripples the pool of blood made and with each wave that was made he frowned even more, he didn't think it would happen so soon, and yet it seemed like the perfect time. <em>

_The Binding was weakening, HE would be free very soon, and so much evil was afoot in the dark corners of the city._

_He stood up, holstered his gun and he waited for the sun to go down, when night comes he would set off to find the chosen one before the devil Mephisto could find him. H ehad heard the rumors but didn't believe until he felt the chill run up his spine: there was a new Ghost Rider. Though he may be the only one to stop what is coming, but at the cost of his soul? No... no cause was worthy enough for a soul, he had to find him before Mephisto could curse him. He knew what happened to the last Ghost Rider and if what happened to him was any indication of the fate of Ghost Riders, then it was a moral responsibility to prevent someone else from suffering the same fate. _

_For Ghost Riders don't get happy endings._


	3. Chapter 3: Behind the Shadows

I completely forgot how short this chapter is, it's crazy I wrote stuff this short when season 2 has all been 17 pages long each episode. I wish I had some stuff to add onto and give it more content, but there really isn't anything I could add that would be too new. I suppose I could blabber a bit on some stuff, like I will do now. Maybe a thought back so to speak...

I remember feeling very unsure, Ghost Rider wasn't getting attention at all and I was beginning to wonder if I made a mistake with this story writing it at all. I stuck with it though and well, you all know the rest. It's the same with the Audio one as I noticed, slow start up. But with some encouragement from the cast and such we kept going and well, at least we're now getting comments from people none of us really know: so that's a good sign.

Chapter 3 and 4 will feel like the original, but once we hit Chapter 5? That's when we delve into the new stuff, different scenes, different characterizations, very fun stuff. Won't be long now, until then enjoy a blast from the past with some added dialogue!

This Chapter was performed by:

Michael Fri: Sora Shimomura  
>Elena Crall: Kairi Nomura<br>Verso: Namine Nomura and Yuffie Kisaragi  
>JDExists: Wakka Arundel<br>Philossus: Mephisto  
>Austin Nebbia: Tidus Davidge<br>Sweetblood: Riku Uematsu  
>Summer Fri: Aerith Gainsborough<br>Iceswolf25: Tifa Lockhart  
>with Peach Gore as The Narrator<br>and Wuten: Demonic Laugh

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: Behind the Shadows<p>

After the incident in the hall Kairi retreated quietly to the lunchroom, where she was quickly joined by her sister (who upon hearing what happened immediately joined her in the lunchroom). Words still cannot express how many pieces Namine's heart broke into when she saw her sister, defeated, bowed over at the table like a prisoner of war who just admitted surrender. No words Namine could offer comfort to her sister, instead she walked over and gave her a hug. Which would be enough...for now. So while Sora was talking to Tifa in the lunchroom, Kairi Nomura stared at Sora with such an intense hatred that could have lighted the entire room. She didn't understand his obsession for trying to make her life a living hell, all Kairi knew was the moment she met Sora she knew he was bad news. The worst thing is; he seemed to get away with everything, she still did not believe he was able to rig her locker just as she thought of the idea to test it. Kairi turned back to her plate of food; she stared at it as if it could come to life and tell her that 'hey maybe one day he'll leave you alone, maybe one day he'll just disappear.'

_Yeah right, _Kairi thought as she lowered her head, uncertain of why she comes to school anymore. In her moodiness she barely noticed Tidus, Wakka, Yuffie, and Riku coming in to join her.

"Hey Kairi," Wakka sat down. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay..." Kairi mumbled, "Well, not okay...but you know what I mean. What about you guys?"

"Us? Yeah we're...we're good." Tidus said, casting a glance in Riku's direction, who didn't say anything. Which to the group falling into a silence that was alien to the chattering lunchroom, it was an odd thing if you were someone watching them from afar: the popular ones suddenly act like the outcasts.

"I can't believe it… how did he know?" Riku finally muttered, and Kairi nodded.

"I know, I had only thought of testing the locker then and there!"

Riku looked at her apologetically, "Actually, I meant how he knew about what I was planning for Vanille tonight. So much for the surprise…"

Wakka pounded his hand on the table, "Damn Sora! Why is he always hounding on us like that?"

Namine lifted her head up a little and said in a quiet voice, "He is very rude."

Tidus folded his arms, "He's rude to _us_, but he never picked on you Namine."

Which was quite true, Sora had never really played any pranks on her. However he wasn't exactly friendly to her either, he was gruff and paid very little attention to her. Namine wasn't as vocal or stood out like her sister did; maybe that's why Sora never harassed her? Was it because he only preyed on the people who were popular? As she mulled over this thought a lone girl joined them at their table.

"Hi, I heard what Sora did in the halls today," The girl frowned, "He got away with it again?"

Kairi nodded, "I can't believe the teachers can't see through his lies Aerith."

"It seems unfair that you have to suffer, you never did anything to anyone."

Tidus growled, "It's people like Sora who make school almost unbearable!"

Aerith frowned, "I hate saying this… and I really do, but he is even worse than Seifer."

"Wait, Seifer intimidates every Senior in the school," Kairi said, "How is Sora worse?"

Aerith sighed, "Sora is feared by Juniors, Seniors, and even the teacher faculty are a little intimidated by him."

"That's crazy man! How can one guy be feared by the entire school?"

Riku scoffed, "Sora is, e_veryone_ in this school is scared of him. I wouldn't be surprised if Seifer praises Sora."

"Seifer _taught _Sora, him and his little group. Of course a teacher would want to praise his student, Seifer is proud of his 'accomplishments'." Yuffie bitterly interjected, her nose scrunching up as if she could still smell the stink bomb still on her clothes. "Somebody please tell me why on earth no one has suspended him yet?"

"He never gets caught," Tidus said, "And when he is cornered he somehow manages to wring himself out of that one too. Personally I just think most of the teachers are idiots and shouldn't even be teaching."

"You think that about all teachers," Riku pointed out, "Even Ms. Larkin who gave you a C on your history exam."

"That-" Tidus pointed a finger at him, "-has nothing to do with it! Well...not by much anyway..."

"As much as I would love to rag on Tidus on what he got in History," Yuffie grinned at that thought, but after that her mood went sullen instantly, "We need to figure out what to do with him, Sora. We can't just sit here and take his crap anymore."

"We could always strike back at him." Riku suggested, Tidus and Wakka turned warning looks to him and he amended himself, "No not like that, I mean, operate on his level: strike at something that he loves. Humiliate him, you know give him a taste of his own medicine?"

"How do we do that?" Wakka asked, "Its not like we can go and ask his friends about Sora, they'll know what we're up to."

"He loves motorcycles." Yuffie suggested, "I've seen him race with dirtbikes on an occasion, maybe we can sabotage his bike?"

"It won't work."

The quiet voice of Namine reminded the small group that she was still with them, they turned to her who had paused mid-sketch to continue. "Sora loves bikes as you said, he would be able to figure out someone sabotaged his bike before he even got on it."

"Well, true, but-"

"And what if he did get on it?" Aerith also added, "What if he got into an accident and the police figure who did this, you all would be arrested and your futures ruined. I sympathize with you guys I really do, but sinking to his level won't solve anything."

Deep down the group knew the two girls were right, but they hated to admit it...to admit that they truly were powerless in this situation, they had too much riding on their futures to give up for a moment's worth of vengeance. Kairi looked across the lunchroom and didn't see Sora anymore, which was fine to her however it didn't change the hellhole that Sora was making for her. She wished that someday someone would put the asshole in his place, but it didn't seem to happen. It was at that moment in which Kairi decided the world was a cruel place, a place where nobody would get what they deserved.

* * *

><p>After their little talk in the lunchroom Sora had decided that their break should be used for a more...productive activity. No, not studying or anything academic. No this productive activity involved machines that usually have two wheels, drove fast, and you don't even need to pedal them: motorcycles. Sora loved motorcycles. He had a dirt bike as well as his own cycle he couldn't wait for the day he could be on the road with. Sometimes during or after school he would get his dirt bike and race someone on the dirt paths, and that's just what he was doing now. During the school break some of the Juniors had brought their dirt bikes and placed them on the dirt paths, just outside school property. Sora had done the same early this morning with the intention of joining the Juniors in a race for...well, bragging rights and smiles from pretty girls. They used to bet money, then they all came to conclusion while about half the Juniors had jobs they spent most of that money on video games, sporting goods, and other little items. In other words, they were too damn broke to even bet a penny.<p>

That was okay though, the Juniors had loads of ego to brag about and there were many lovely ladies watching. That's what Sora was doing on this afternoon, in the time between classes and lunch. Sora approached his dirt bike and leaned on his bike, he gave a cocky smile to his competition as Tifa walked up in front of the two bikers, her white tie on top and dark blue jeans defiantly caught the boy's attention. _Poor Tifa_, Sora thought, _beingunintentionally sexy must be hard on her_.

"Okay boys," Tifa said, "You know the rules; first to make it to the finishing line gets bragging rights for a whole year...or until the next race."

Sora and the second racer nodded, the two of them started their bikes. Tifa held out a white flag (there were some wolf whistling in the crowd, apparently they had mistaken the white flag for her top), held out three fingers and lowered them one at a time – calling out each number as she lowered.

"Three…"

Sora revved his bike up and did a mental check to make sure his helmet was secure.

"Two…"

He turned his head and stared at the white line ahead him; he had his eyes on the prize.

"One..."

There was a dead silence; the only sounds were the two revving bikes ready to tear off towards the finish line.

"Go!" Tifa yelled, waving the white flag (there were small groans from the crowd when guys realize she was indeed fully clothed).

Sora let go of the clutch and he shot forward down the dirt course. The dirt course was a straight path littered with endless hills, making it very dangerous to ride at full speeds for if you went to fast while going over a hill…well, it would hurt, a lot. But it was the danger that made Sora feel alive... which would be very ironic if he died during the race... anyway, it was the feeling of the wind against him, the thrill of being airborne, the feeling of success that brought a thrill almost as equal as tearing down Kairi Nomura a notch. Sora was not making an effort to go slow, he tore through the course despite nearly being thrown off twice, his competition however was making careful speed bursts and was falling behind.

_This race is as good as mine, _Sora thought as he approached the last hill. With a burst of speed he shot up the hill and into the air, the burst of speed was strong enough to send him airborne. He kept his eyes focused ahead of him though, waiting to land and cross the finish line.

_Sora…_

Sora gasped for the voice that called out to him made his blood chill. He felt odd, dizzy in fact which resulted in the following: as Sora's bike came close to the ground the forward momentum was so great that he **flipped over the handlebars**_. _His helmet clad head slammed onto the front wheel and he landed on the ground, the glass on his visor shattered and his body bounced on the ground. The bike skidded to the side as Sora rolled like a rag doll down the hill and slam against a parked car with a sickening crunch. Sora felt heavy, he heard screams, he heard the people running over to him, he felt a pair of arms turn over and call his name.

"Sora! Oh god, Sora!" Tifa screamed and she pulled off his helmet, and gasped.

Sora's face was... perfectly fine. Not a single cut, bruise, was found on him, Sora opened his eyes and he gave a light smile.

"Hey Tifa… is the bike okay?"

Tifa paused, she looked she had just been slapped in the face.

"The bike is fine you crazy moron…" Tifa sighed; she stood up and assured everyone he was alright. Then she scooped low and she pulled Sora up, beginning a slow trek towards her car. By the time they got to her car and by the time Sora sat down the dizziness he felt seemed to have disappeared. Tifa knelt over until she was eye level with Sora.

"How are you feeling?"

Sora looked back at her and he said, "I think I am okay…"

"Oh, good." Then without warning Tifa slapped him.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?!"

"For scaring me! For nearly dying?! You crazy moron, you almost got yourself killed!"

Sora rubbed his cheek and sighed, "Well I'm okay right? I came out fine."

"Yeah you did," Tifa tilted her head, "Which is odd because, no offense, they normally would be peeling you off the ground now."

"I just got lucky I guess," Sora sighed.

Tifa laughed, "Luck's got nothing to do with it, you have an angel looking out for you."

"Maybe…" Sora muttered, at that moment the sound of rolling thunder echoed, Sora and Tifa turned their heads to see the dark clouds beyond them.

"Or maybe it's something else," Sora frowned, and Sora swore for a moment that in his reflection from the windshield, a skull was leering at him.


	4. Chapter 4: Dues and Debts

Its been a week, here's another GR chapter for you all, unlike the last one this intro is quite different from it's predecessor - so there is something newish to enjoy. The next chapter is the one with the big changes so be ready for it, in the meantime, enjoy the rewritten Chapter 4.

This chapter was performed by:

Michael Fri: Sora Shimomura and Demon Voice 4  
>Elena Crall: Kairi Nomura<br>Verso: Namine Nomura  
>Jessica Fernando: Sora's Mother<br>Philossus: Mephisto  
>Peach Gore and JDExists: Narrators<br>with  
>13thSyndication: Irene and Demon Voice 3<br>Marlain Angelides and Dazed: Demon Voices 1 and 2 respectively.  
>and<br>Anthony Dubé-Leblanc: "The Hunter"

Now, let us begin.

* * *

><p>Chapter 4: Dues and Debts<p>

* * *

><p><em>The rain was the worst weather to be in sometimes, especially for someone who didn't have shelter for the evening. Especially for someone like Irene, fifteen years old, no home, no parents, no one to rely on but herself. Irene took refuge in the corners of Hell's Highway, the nickname for the section of the city with the gangs, prostitutes, and drug dealers. If you were a businessman who sets up shop on this street, well like the AC-DC song says; you're on the highway to hell.<em>

_On that rainy night Irene was moving through street to street, trying to find some shelter from the rain. She moved into the alley between the flower shop and the bakery, looking for something that looked sort of like a roof. As she moved through the alley in her search for shelter she heard a noise, like someone bumping against the trashcans further down the alley._

"_Who's there?"_

_No answer. She waited a moment before returning to her search, as she did though she swore out of the corner of her eye someone was standing at the opposite end of the alleyway. She quickly whirled around to look and found...no one, the alley was empty._

"_Who's there?" she asked again, fear entering her voice her as she decided perhaps this alley wouldn't be the best place to spend the night. She began to move to the end of alley, planning to double back down the street and find another place...when three men rounded the corner and stood side by side: blocking her way. She slowed herself to a stop, waiting to see if the men would move out of her way: none of them did. She couldn't see the men, they were wearing biker jackets and full face helmets on their heads. _

"_Where are you running to?" one of them spoke, the voice was weird to Irene...it had a rattling like sound._

"_No where..." Irene answered, stepping back. _

"_No family?" one of the other men asked._

"_I...um, well no I have a family they're um...they're waiting for me yes, they're waiting for me on the other side of the alley. In their car, I need to get there now or they'll be worried about me." _

"_What car is it?" one of the men asked, the rattling noise echoing. "Your parent's car?"_

"_The car its...um..." Irene paused, unfortunately for her the pause was all they needed._

"_Oh yes...she'll do."_

_Irene began to step back, planning to break into a run and try to lose these men...when she bumped into something behind her. She froze, fear ruling her every move she slowly turned around and came face to face with another man in a biker jacket and a full face helmet on. The man reached up and slowly lifted off his helmet...to revealed a seriously deformed skull with small horns on the forehead, Irene opened her mouth to scream and its hand shot out...her world turned black..._

"_Call the boss...we only need one more for tonight's quota..."_

* * *

><p>Sora trudged home in the rain, his leather jacket sleeked wet and his pants soaked, he pulled his dirt bike into the garage and set it next to his other bike, the one he hoped to ride one day. The motorcycle in question was a Fat Boy Harley, it was colored a bright blue and it had a windshield on top of the handlebars to protect from bugs and stuff. After Sora had set his muddy wet dirt bike against the garage wall he walked inside the house, removed his jacket and stepped into the kitchen to find his mother sitting at the table, evidently waiting for him.<p>

"Sora, we need to talk," she said, pushing a chair for him to sit in.

"Right now?"

"Yes."

"Well I am kind of soaked so if I could just dry-"

"Now." his mother repeated firmly. Sora hesitated for a moment before he walked over, still in his wet soggy pants, sat down and faced his mother.

"Is there something wrong?" Sora asked, although he could almost predict the answer.

"Yes Sora, something is very wrong. I want to know why our answering machine seems to be very popular for collecting insults," His mother asked, she hit the play button and a series of insults streamed out of the machine.

Sora listened for awhile and with each message that played a frown crossed his face, "Okay I am not sure how I...oh wait yeah I remember that one, but the one with the locker room I...no wait yeah that one's me too."

The unimpressed expression on his mother's face showed Sora she was rapidly losing patience. "Okay well if this is bothering you so much we'll just change our phone number or something."

"That's not the point Sora," his mom spoke, cutting him off, "The point is I want to know what's going on with you?"

"What's going on with me."

"Yes, I want to know what the hell you are doing that is leaving fifteen hate filled messages on our house phone."

"Nothing, I'm okay... for once in my life."

"What do you mean 'for once in your life'," she asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sora looked at her while crossing his arms, "Maybe it means for once I'm not the sniveling little baby I used to be? Maybe it means I finally figured who I am?"

"Oh, so you want to be remembered as a bully? Because let me tell you Sora that is right where you're headed, a bully."

"What makes you think I am a-"

"Sora!" his mother testily cut in, "I am a reporter, I know when to start digging. Apparently you made quite a name for yourself at school, a list long of items the teachers have suspected you for doing and lord the things people told me about you. So do _not_ pull this crap with me young man, you are a bully."

"Who cares?! I'm done with being the victim, I'm done being alone. Now it's someone else's turn to be alone and if being a bully is the way to do it then fine by me!"

"Sora," His mom said, it was then as the light shined on her face Sora could see her eyes red and puffy, "You chose to be alone, you chose to be all these things, and your father would have been so ashamed of you-"

"Good!" Sora yelled, he stood up and glared at his mom, "I never wanted to be like him anyway! He left us! He walked out that door and he _never_ looked back! I'm nothing like him!"

The air was silent, his mom just stared at him in shock for a long while before she took a deep breath and responded with a sentence that would haunt Sora forever.

"No Sora you are not like your father, but you are not _any better _than him."

Sora glared at her and then stomped upstairs and slammed his bedroom door, he let out a yell of fury and he flung himself on his bed. What did she mean by that? How could he be worse than his father, he didn't abandon her like he did, he didn't even have a reason for his actions, how could he be even worse than that? He shut his eyes tightly and he buried his head in his pillow, he had a few hours until he was supposed to bring the explosives to Seifer, and besides he needed to wait until it stopped raining. But until that happened he could fall asleep while listening to the pitter patter of rain echoing on his house, the rain seemed to reflect his soul and for some strange reason he found the rain soothing, like a lullaby to aid his weariness. Also with the strange events that happened today he was due for a small nap, he started to breathe slower and deeper and soon he was completely asleep.

* * *

><p>"Namine!" Kairi Nomura called out to her sister, "Dad's getting impatient, he wants to know if you are ready yet!"<p>

"One moment!"

"That's what you said fifteen minutes ago."

"Just one moment!"

She rolled her eyes before she surveyed the long pink dress her mother bought for her and smiled, she was going to head to a formal party with her parents and then she would get changed and meet her friends later on tonight. She had double checked her hair once again and she was about to leave when a voice came from behind her.

"Um, Kairi is this okay?"

Kairi turned around and she sighed, Namine was wearing the white dress that was picked for her, but she was obviously trying not to look good for her hair was not fixed and her face was still covered in paint smudges.

"Namine, dad would kill you if you went out like that," Kairi laughed as she took a tissue from her table and dabbed at the paint smudges, "Your hair is fine, but the paint smudges have to go."

"I'm sorry," Namine giggled, "I'm not good at this stuff like you are."

"I practiced," Kairi responded, "I've been going to these kind of parties longer than you have."

"Its not my fault painting lessons keep happening on those nights..." Namine mumbled, to which Kairi raised an eyebrow.

"I noticed these painting lessons of yours happen on different nights every week, is your teacher really that disorganized or are you spending your time in coffee shops instead?"

Namine's face went bright red, "H-how did you-"

"Yuffie saw you last week, she told me."

Namine's lips scrunched up to a frown and she gave a huff, "Dad's parties are always awkward...I never know what to say to people."

"Just be polite, if anything just smile and nod, these are dad's political fund raisers so sometimes the best thing to do is just not say anything." she paused for a moment before she decided to share some sisterly advice, "My trick is my responses are generally scripted, I reuse the same lines on different people."

"You're kidding." Namine said skeptically, "They fall for that?"

"Sure, watch," Kairi cleared her throat, put on a beautiful smile and said, "That's so fascinating, oh yes I quite agree, I never considered it that way."

Namine stared at her sister, wide eyed and a bit taken aback by the alarming amount of sincerity was in her sister's voice as she recited her 'scripted' responses.

"And that's all scripted?" Namine asked, Kairi nodded and the artist was instantly impressed, "I can see why everyone likes you."

To Namine's surprise Kairi's smile vanished and was replaced with a frown, her eyes looked down at her feet and she sighed, "Maybe that's a good thing, that way you don't have to face—,"

"Stop!" Namine yelled, she covered her own mouth as if she was surprised herself something like this happened.

"S-stop?" Kairi asked, "Stop what?"

"Stop putting yourself down because of Sora! You have no reason to be ashamed of yourself if you want to look nice! You can't let him control you like this, you can't ever stop fighting him! If you do stop then it will be a sign to him that he won, and if you let him win then what? He'll stop? No he won't stop, but he shouldn't get in the way of you living your life! He's just a bully! That's all he is and all he ever will be, one day he'll fade from your mind and that's all he'll ever: just the faded memory of a sad, lonely, bully!"

She folded her arms, "Sorry I just don't like seeing you like this...how he affects you...sometimes I wish you'd just punch him but you're so perfectly nice that I have to draw pictures of you punching him, and I have to tell you I wasted pages of my notebooks drawing something I actually gathered it into a book and called it 'The Revenge of Kairi'!" Namine paused and mumbled the last part, "Its a working title, don't quote me on it."

Kairi's mind was reeling, not only did her sister the most she girl she ever knew actually yelled at her but somehow managed to make a long emotional rant comical, she couldn't help but laugh: it started off low and bubbled up as her affection to her sister grew every passing second. Namine, who was ranting something about making Sora look like a troll, broke off as her sister's laughter filled the entire room. Soon she softened up and laughed alongside her sister, it was the silliest thing you would ever see from afar but if you were closer you'd appreciate the closeness the two sisters had for each other.

"You're right." Kairi finally said, "You're right..."

Namine smiled and she looked at her own reflection, "So… is my hair really okay?"

Kairi shook her head as her sister suddenly began to fuss over her appearance, she gently took her twins hand and led her out of the room.

"Your hair is fine, come on, we have a dinner to go to."

* * *

><p>Sora shivered slightly as he was drying himself with a towel, nothing like a quick shower to wake you up from a long nap. He walked over to the sink and he sighed at his own reflection.<p>

"Alright now, tonight's the big night," He said to his own reflection, "You don't want to screw this up now, just go pick up the explosives, hand them to Seifer, and finally learn this massive project he has been working on."

Sora sighed contently at his reflection, but as he was about to walk away he saw something in the mirror that made him gasp; his hands were bright pink. Not pink as in the pretty color, but pink as intense heat kind of pink. Sora stared at his hands then he quickly turned on the faucet and stuck his hands in the cold water, after while he turned off the faucet hoping to find his hands were their normal color. Instead he found they were still pink and even worse, smoke was beginning to form out of his hands.

_Sora…_

Sora slowly turned around but no one was in his room, it was empty. However before he could be assured that everything was fine the voice called out again...

_Sora…_

Sora took a deep breath and he walked into his room, and still no one was there. However he heard an odd sound, it was the sound of a motor revving, a motorcycle? Sora quickly threw on his pants, a T Shirt and his leather jacket and went downstairs. The rain must have let up while he was showering because the pitter patter had ceased but he could still feel the moist air around him when he stepped outside. When he stepped off the front porch and out onto the grass he saw something odd; his Fat Boy motorcycle was out on the driveway, its engine revving and standing upright on its own. Sora walked over to his bike and he was about to place his hand on the handlebars, but then a sinister laugh caught his attention and he turned his gaze to look down the road. Sora froze for a moment but then he raised his hand and pointed at someone down the road.

"You…" Sora growled.

"Hello Sora," replied a man coming down the road, his slightly bald head reflecting off the porch light and his dark suit nearly blending in with the night; Mephisto had arrived.

"I knew I recognized that voice," Sora said, circling around the bike to put some distance between them, "It was you who kept me alive when the bike crashed."

"Oh no, that was you," Mephisto chuckled, walking around the bike as well, "That was just my little 'gift' I gave you many years ago coming into effect."

Sora felt pale when he said it like that, "Gift? What did you do to me?"

Mephisto chuckled in a way that made Sora's blood chill, "You'll find out by the end of tonight, but I have a job for you Sora."

"A-a job?" Sora stuttered, trying to keep his composure.

"Yes, you agreed to work for me remember?" Mephisto gave a dark grin, "Well now's the time you pay off your debt, someone or something is trying break The Binding. A curse that has been in place long before you have been born... I want you to find out whoever is doing this and destroy them."

Sora for a moment felt like that little eight year old in the rain, pleading this very same man to let him go. That feeling faded, he refused to be like that eight year old boy again, he narrowed his eyes at Mephisto and he growled, "Do it yourself."

Sora swung himself over and on his bike, hoping to drive off and leave this man in his dust... however Mephisto simply chuckled.

"It doesn't work like that; you swore to me you would work for me one day. True I could just take you to hell; you are indeed only collateral for the original deal..."

When Sora tried to rev his bike he found his fingers wouldn't obey him, when he tried to move his bike back into the garage he found out he couldn't move either. His hand tightened on the handle bars and his feet remained firm, one on the ground steadying the bike, the other on the bike's foot rest.

"But," Mephisto continued, taking no notice in Sora's vain attempts to escape, "I have found use for you, so what do you say you just cooperate and we both can walk out of this happy? What do you say Sora?"

Despite Sora's body unable to move he managed to growl, "Yeah I'm not doing it."

Mephisto stood in front of the bike and said the words that pressed down on Sora's soul and made him as helpless as a kitten. Four little words that destroyed all of his free will.

"You have no choice."

Mephisto lifted his cane in the air and when he stamped the ground he disappeared in thin air, but as he disappeared the bike's wheels began to spin yet remain in their place, for the moment. Then the bike shot forward, leaving a trail of flames behind it.

* * *

><p>"<em>Damn! I was too late!"<em>

_He was too late to stop Mephisto, he had waited for the sun to go down and the moment it set he made his way to the house of Sora Shimomura. It seems however he had only arrived moments too late, but his hunch was right; The Binding was indeed weakening, the mysterious comatose patients at the hospital proved it as well._

_The foolish human doctors would label them as brain dead, but then again how could human doctors tell that they were actually missing their souls? More like ripped from their being is the proper term. They were the people that wouldn't cause attention to the authorities; orphan kids, the homeless, the unimportant ones...the ones who lived upon the streets of the night. There was no one in the world that deserved that kind of fate, to be hollow and empty, without being or life, a fate worse than death. He had been tracking the culprits for weeks now; it was indeed a force of the undead, however he could not find who was controlling the strings so to speak. He was busier trying to prevent young Sora from becoming the Ghost Rider, another type of fate worse than death. _

_However it seemed that is was inevitable that he would become the rider who would destroy evil, and as a fellow hunter of the evil souls of hell he would have to assist him. He turned his gaze away from the house and to the city where the bike had sped off to, it shouldn't be to hard to find him; he just had to follow the trail of flames._


	5. Chapter 5: The Rider Rides

This would have gone up yesterday, but it was my birthday so I was understandably distracted. Had a nice gathering and birthday wishes were sent from the GR crew, all in all good. Anyhoo, this is the chapter where things get crazy fun. If you recall the original version you will notice some interesting changes among the similarity. So here is the new Chapter 5! Again, written words don't do the transformation scene nor Wuten's performance as GR justice, I still encourage listening to the Audio Drama.

This chapter was performed by:

Michael Fri: Sora Shimomura and Mysterious Demon  
>Wuten: The Ghost Rider<br>Elena Crall: Kairi Nomura  
>Verso: Fuu Grace<br>Nick Smithberger: Seifer Almasy  
>Philossus: Rai Marino and Demon Voice 2<br>Austin Nebbia: Horned Demon/The Boss  
>Coconut: Paine Parks<br>With  
>Icewolfs25, Dazed, Peach Gore, and Jessica Fernando: Demon Voice 1, Demon Voice 3, Demon Voice 4, and Demon Voice 5 (respectively).<br>And  
>JDExists and Peach Gore as the Narrators<p>

Now let us begin.

* * *

><p>Chapter 5: The Rider Rides<p>

_A very chilling breeze ran up Seifer's spine as he sat down cross legged in the darkened room, though the outside air was warm the inside of the room was along the lines of a refrigerator. Seifer resisted the cold though, the feeling was just a part of his mind a reaction of nerves and slowing heart, these could be ignored: the figure speaking to him could not._

"_You are doing well thus far Seifer."_

"_Of course I am," Seifer haughtily remarked, "I didn't train these past two years just to stumble and fall when the time comes."_

"_No of course you didn't," the voice replied, it was intended to be a compliment but all it sounded to Seifer was condescending. "If I know humans and I do when they have something they really want, really desire, they will go after it with everything they have; beautiful creatures they are."_

"_Beautiful?" Seifer replied, skepticism in his voice. _

"_Is something wrong?"_

_Seifer lowered his head, "Of all the things I expected you to say...beautiful is not one of them."_

_The voice let out a low chuckle which put an image in Seifer's mind, an image of a man smirking at him as if he just a student whose view of the world was so painfully restricted._

"_Oh but they are, beautifully predictable. There are three types of fools in this world Seifer, there are the fools who altruistically devote their lives to slowly killing themselves in the name of a person, a group, or a country. We have the fools who spend their lives keeping to themselves, thinking of only themselves, and making long term plans to help no one but themselves, like your father."_

"_Whats the third?" Seifer cut in, any mention of his father sent a hot flame boiling in his blood._

"_The third are the fools who have nothing and therefore scheme to have everything, or if they cannot have it they make sure no one else can ever have it."_

"_Are you calling me a fool then?"_

"_A necessary fool. A fool needed for a purpose, be glad Seifer, most fools are never deemed necessary; you are the rare few."_

_Seifer bit back an angry retort, he was treading on thin lines here and he did not want to say something and screw up all their chances, the voice let out another chuckled._

"_As expected, you want to say something to defend yourself but not driven enough for fear of losing your chance at your goal. You never fail to meet my expectations Seifer."_

"_That I already knew, we nearly have everything we need, every night they return with many souls and at least one of the group meets the needed requirements. By this time tonight or even tomorrow night we will have enough to free you."_

"_This is a moment of rejoicing then Seifer, so I must question...why do I sense anger coming from you?"_

"_Not anger, hesitance...I want assurance."_

_The silence in the air hung over Seifer, which only made him even more unsure for the silence that pressed down upon him almost felt like anger._

"_What possible assurance could you need? I gave you power, knowledge of spells, and my word – these should be enough."_

"_But they are not," Seifer protested, "I know how these deals work-"_

"_Oh really?"_

"_-you make promises yet when we complete our end of the bargain your kind-"_

"_Hah! Your kind...hah!"_

"_-Don't follow through or catch us on some little aspect of the deal we didn't cover-"_

"_I can't hardly be blamed for incompetent people not thinking everything through-"_

"_STOP CALLING ME INCOMPETENT!" Seifer screamed, his voice sharply piercing every edge, every shadow, every corner of the tiny room. The silence that was there earlier suddenly became a crushing weight as the voice spoke again._

"_Oh but you are...you are as incompetent as they come, a visionary yes but you see humans themselves have a certain point where their brains do not understand things, even the Einsteins and the Da Vinci's of the world couldn't come close to, as you put it, 'our kind's' intelligence. So understand this: my word is the only assurance you will ever need in this situation, I am willing to help you in your dream and then stay out of your way, all you need to do is what you are told and we all walk out happy." A dark presence pushed in on Seifer, he felt like his whole body was snap apart from it. "Do not do what you are told and I will leave you alone altogether, I will not assist you nor will I spare you when, and believe me I will be, when I will be released. So be a good little fool and do as your told, understood?"_

_Seifer breathed heavily before uttering a reluctant, "Yes."_

_The presence faded, the weight vanished, all along the last fading words of, "Good little fool."_

_Seifer stayed where he was on the floor for a moment, finding it hard to push himself up when he heard the curtains part and a hand take his arm and helped him up. Seifer turned to Rai and then to Fuu and Paine, Fuu had walked over and gently brushing (almost caressing) off the dirt on his jacket. Seifer hesitated for a moment before he pulled away from her._

"_Did Kane contact you?"_

"_Yes." Paine responded, "He and his crew have already hit the streets, he expects to come back with all the souls we need for the spell."_

"_Good." he paused for a moment as he looked at the group and asked, "Sora?"_

"_Not here." Rai answered, "But he should be here soon, he's probably taking the backroads to get here."_

"_Are you sure this is a good idea?" Paine asked suddenly, "Letting in Sora on this? He may not understand...you saw how he reacted when we showed him the explosives-"_

"_He actually reacted more calmly than you did Paine," Rai pointed out._

_Paine rolled his eyes, "Yes you're not going to let that go are you, but my point stands...what if he leaves after we tell him?"_

"_He won't leave." Paine and Rai turned to Fuu who quite confidently explained her reasoning, "Why would he leave? We have given him everything the world outside could not, we gave him friends, a place of belonging, and a goal for life. He wouldn't leave he's too indebted to us."_

"_Tifa's indebted to us, she's been here longer than Sora has been: why have we not let her in on what we're up to?"_

"_Tifa's not like Sora," Rai answered, "I know you're not blind Paine, you saw what he became in two years. In two years he's managed to gain more infamy and power in the school than the group of us did in three. It's his name they whisper in fear and its his name fighting for our cause."_

"_Then why do we keep Tifa here, if she's not doing anything we should just-"_

"_Because we don't turn anyone like us away," Seifer cut in. "Whether they work or do not, we take care of our own and Tifa is one of our own... like Sora is."_

_As if on cue they could hear the sound of a motorcycle outside and Rai turned to the tent, "That's probably him, I'll go check."_

_As Rai stepped out Fuu turned to Seifer who was now finally regaining his strength from his 'talk' with the unseen individual. If you were to look at her, the girl who regarded everything with the same blank expression suddenly showed worry as she crossed the room and placed her hand on his arm – catching his attention._

"_You don't look well," she stated, Seifer chuckled._

"_As usual Fuu your ability to state the obvious is astounding," Seifer grimaced a bit as Fuu's handgrip tightened on his arm. "A little energy loss is nothing to the powers he has bestowed us, I can barely feel it."_

"_Liar." she said, earning a frown from Seifer._

"_Fuu after tonight it won't even matter, everything we worked for will finally be upon us. I will have a lifetime to regain lost energy, okay?"_

"_Promise?" she asked, Seifer nodded, "Then deliver. If you are dead, then we have nothing to work for anymore."_

"_You still have the dream." he pointed out._

"_You are the dream Seifer, it lives and dies with you...so don't die, okay?"_

_Any further response from Seifer was cut off when a large boom echoed from the streets, the three teenagers shock was punctuated by the timely arrival of Rai, who came him nearly white as a ghost._

"_What the hell was that?!" Seifer asked Rai, "What did that?!"_

"_I saw..." Rai began, stopping as if his own brain was having a hard time processing it, "I saw a motorcycle..."_

"_Sora?"_

"_No, not Sora, definitely not Sora." he said, "I saw the motorcycle shoot down the street, everything it passed caught on fire and exploded!"_

"_A motorcycle?" Disbelief evident in Paine's voice, "You expect us to believe a motorcycle did that?"_

"_Yes, I do," Rai nodded, "Because that was no ordinary motorcycle, they can't go that fast or make explosions like that!"_

_Seifer felt a chill run up his spine as crossed the room and past the tarp leading outside, he stood in the alley that led from their secret place to the streets: sure enough, a thin trail of fire, burning cars, and melted lampposts littered the streets before him. Seifer has seen many things these past few years, but this one left him puzzled...and a little frightened._

"_What the hell did this...?" he whispered. _

* * *

><p>Sora's motorcycle shot through city streets like lighting, burning a thin line in the road and exploding the windows of parked cars, melting street posts and basically causing havoc. Sora himself tightened his grip on the handle bars, praying that he would not get launched off the bike at these speeds. The front wheel of his bike glowed bright orange and it even burst into flames on the occasion, the bike seemed to know where to go because Sora could not even steer the bike or even try and slow it down, all he could do was hang on tight.<p>

* * *

><p>"Damn it!" Kairi swore, she had once again found herself on the street she didn't even want to be on.<p>

Kairi may have been an expert at being the perfect daughter at her father's parties, but it didn't mean she liked nor preferred it. Which explained why she was very grateful when her mother said she could sneak out the back and go meet her friends if she liked. Upon hearing that Kairi got changed into more casual clothes and planned on heading to the Shopping Center to meet her friends, however like all plans this one did not work the way she wanted it to. When she went to take the bus to the Shopping Center it was there, as she sat in the comfortable seat she felt her fatigue catch up to her and the second she shut her eyes she found herself five miles away from where she wanted to be. So instead of being at the Shopping Center she ended up getting lost near the old steel mill on Hell's Highway, named for its slime and criminal infestation; it was definitely not the place for the Mayor's daughter to be. Kairi decided to double back, call her friends and see if one of them can come and pick her up, but as she rounded the corner she bumped into someone.

"Oh! I'm sorry I…" Kairi stopped midway, the person she bumped into was a biker, and he had a helmet of sorts over his head so Kairi couldn't see his face. The biker turned around to face her and suddenly Kairi felt a lump form in her throat, this could be bad.

"I'm sorry, I'll um, leave now," Kairi said hurriedly, she didn't want to stay any longer at this spot. However before she could get any farther, two more bikers came out of the alley and cut her off from walking away. Kairi decided to cross the road and get to the other side of the street, but she was also cut off by two more bikers holding steel pipes in their hands. Kairi was boxed in, her fear was beginning to grow when she realized that their might be no way she would come out of this… alive.

"I think…" One of the bikers spoke, "We're going to fill tonight's quota boys."

The other bikers gave a low chuckle and Kairi didn't like the way this sounded, she moved slowly towards the building wall she was being backed into and picked up a crowbar from the nearby trashcans. One of the bikers walked up to her and his arm reached out to grab her, Kairi took her moment and swung the crowbar and it collided with the bikers head. The biker stumbled backwards and knelt over, his helmet fell of his head and Kairi nearly screamed: a rotting skull replaced human facial features. During this brief moment of fear the two bikers from behind her grabbed her arms and held her tight. Kairi shrieked and tried to break free from their grasp, but it was no use and the biker whose helmet Kairi knocked off got back up and groaned.

"Call the boss; he's the only one who can extract souls. Tell him we're at the steel mill at Hell's Highway, a nice secluded place to take her soul," The biker instructed, one of them nodded and ran off down the alley.

Then he turned towards the two holding Kairi and motioned for them to follow them, the nudged Kairi forward and she tried to fight back but the bikers were too strong. The bikers opened the gates to the steel mill and led her to an open area; they bonded her hands and legs and tossed her on the ground. Kairi whimpered in fear and pain as the bikers stood around and waited, Kairi never felt so truly helpless in her life. She didn't know what the hell they meant, but she knew the end result wasn't going to be good.

Now Kairi didn't know any prayers, but she began her own prayer, asking God for an angel to come and save her.

* * *

><p>Sora held on to the bike as it entered a warehouse of the steel mill on Hell's Highway. The bike skidded into a halt and threw Sora of the side of the bike; he fell on the ground and skidded across the metal floor until he came to a stop. Sora groaned in pain and as he stood up he felt his eyes itch in a terrible burning way, and when he saw his reflection the answer became apparent: smoke was pouring out his eyes. He pressed his hands to them to try and stop the smoke, but he only yelled out when his hands touched his face: they felt like a red hot poker that was the size of his hands. Sora looked down at his feet and cried out in surprise, his shoes had caught on fire, and with every step he took a burning shoeprint was left in its place. Sora cried out as smoke burst from his hands, yet when he yelled out there was something different about his voice, it was… demonic, oddly echoing and raspy. Sora couldn't take the burning feeling that racked his body and he began to yell in pain, it was long and drawn out because that's what it felt like to him.<p>

Then something happened that no one would expect from someone in pain: Sora began to laugh. His laugh was crazed and emphasized with a demonic, raspy tone. His insane laughter continued as small cuts were being burned into his face, soon his hands had cuts being burned into it and his eyes had caught flame and began to burn: and yet he continued his laughter. His hands fizzed and popped as flesh began to burn to reveal white bone, his hair began to burn down to his scalp and it melted away as well. Sora's face was practically gone; the skin was being burned away until finally there was only a white skull for his head. The skull lowered its head and he hunched over a little, he remained that way for several seconds until two red orbs appeared in his eye sockets, like fiery eyes. There was a red glow from inside his clothes then a jet of flame shot out from the ribcage and covered his head in a veil of flame, it spread all the way to his skeletal hands as well.

Then finally the skull straightened up and lifted his head, and when he stood upright he gave a raspy roar, as if letting the city know that Sora was gone, all that remains is the Ghost Rider.

* * *

><p>The roar was heard from outside the steel mill, the creatures that had Kairi turned their heads to the building where the roar came from.<p>

"Was that the boss?"

"The boss doesn't roar like that," one of the bikers pointed at one of its fellow biker and then pointed to the building, "Go check that out!"

Kairi in amidst her fear she had also turned her gaze to the source of the roar, fearing whatever was in there was far worse than what was out here. She kept her gaze at the warehouse as, dutifully, the skeletal biker moved to the warehouse where the roar came from, he grabbed the large handle and began to slide the doors open. Halfway through something lunged its hand out and grabbed the biker: a pair of skeletal hands burning bright red with fire. One hand had grabbed the biker while the other shoved open the warehouse doors, revealing the Ghost Rider: who kept his attention on the demon unfortunate enough to be the one to open the warehouse door.

"What the hell are you?!" the biker called out as the Ghost Rider turned its fiery orbs onto him. Then the jaw of the Rider began to move and words formed, its demonic voice carrying more weight to it than any of these mooks did.

"Go back to hell and ask." he said, then quickly slamming the biker down on the ground, which ignited in bright red Hellfire as it hit the ground: incinerating within seconds.

The mooks, as it were, drew various weapons: everything from steel pipes, knives, and even a pistol or two were seen. Kairi began to struggle in the grip of her captor, hoping to break free but his grip was too tight. What was worse was her struggle to break free caught the Rider's gaze, he snapped his fiery orbs onto her and she froze. The red burning eyes scanned what he saw, taking it all in, everything from her captivity to the demon holding her and then back to the mob that was beginning to assemble upon him.

"You're all going to die."

In that split second the skeletal bikers hesitated he moved, running for the closest one and throwing a punch at its head. A normal punch would either hurt the persons hand or comically have the skull spin on its spot, but when Ghost Rider punched its head it burst into flames and began to burn away. Upon seeing one of their own comrades burst into flame several of them ran off while the rest charged at him, thinking that by throwing themselves at him all at once they'd have the advantage over him. What they didn't know was Sora was already a pretty feared fighter, now that he was the Ghost Rider his fighting ability was now terrifying. Everything about him was amplified, his strength, his agility, even as some of the attackers managed to sneak in a strike or two he found his tolerance for pain was increased.

Kairi watched in stunned horror as the Rider fought these monsters with savage ferocity, he slammed their heads on the steel drums, ripped arms from sockets before incinerating them, even grabbed some of the metal beams lying around and crushed several of them into bone dust. They were all ripped apart, one by one, every connecting hit, every block and returning attack resulted in the combustion and disintegration of his foes. He entered a state of ferocity where he was focused solely on the surrounding enemies, everything was in rhythm to him: the snapping of bones when his kicks connected, the eventual sound of burning monsters, like war drums in his mind.

Perhaps if he wasn't so focused on fighting his enemies he would hear the sound of a motor running, see the headlights blare at him and get closer. He didn't see it until it was too late, the skeletal bikers who ran earlier were not running away...they were planning to run him over. The car slammed into Ghost Rider and sent him backwards to the warehouse, his vertebrae got wrapped around some chains on the ceiling and he hanged there. He struggled for a moment before the flames seemly died off around him, his body went slack and he hanged there. The car that ran into him shut off and one of the skeletal monsters climbed out, he looked at the Rider and back at his few remaining men.

"That was easy enough."

The surviving crew burst into loud laughter that would end up being their last laugh, for they did not notice the flames reignite around the Ghost Rider as he regained consciousness. He grabbed the chains holding his neck and with a powerful pull he ripped them from their place on the ceiling, by then several of the demonic bikers had stopped laughing, except for the one who hit him with the car. It took him a few extra minutes to realize he was the only one laughing.

"What? What's going..." as he turned around he too noticed the Ghost Rider was very much alive, the Rider gave a jerk on the chain in his hands and it began to glow bright red.

The demonic biker who had the misfortune to be the one to hit him with the car backed up slowly, "H-have mercy?"

"Sorry." Ghost Rider suddenly snapped out the chain, it shot out and wrapped itself around his attacker who began to yell as the bright red chain seared into him. "I'm all out of mercy."

He jerked back the chain and it incinerated it's victim, the rest of the gang decided the fight part of Fight or Flight was over: now was the time for flight. They turned around and began to run for the exit, even the one holding Kairi let her go and began to ran. The Ghost Rider took a few steps forward before he began to swing in his chain in the air, he turned his skull to Kairi and yelled one word.

"Duck!"

With a yell she dropped to the ground and the Rider swung his chain in a wide arc, the searing hot metal soared over Kairi's head and burned through the retreating enemies – except for one who also heard the yell and dropped down at the last second. Once the chain safely swung over its head the creature got back up and ran for the gates that lead out of the yard. The Ghost Rider was about to give chase when he stopped and turned to the car that had hit him moments ago, getting an idea he walked to the front of the car and grabbed the front bumper with one hand.

"You can't park your car here, its going to be towed." he said and with a mighty heave he launched the car in the air, it flipped overheard and landed on its wheels...on top of the escaping biker with a metallic crunch. "You're welcome."

Kairi, understandably, was on the threshold of fainting. Between the near death by undead bikers to the apparent rescue from, well, another undead biker it was enough to make most people pass out. Somehow though she kept her consciousness, breathing heavily as she struggled to keep herself conscious – this was hard to do as now the Ghost Rider was walking to her. She scooted away from him as far as she could but that wasn't very far, she closed her eyes as she heard his footsteps got closer and closer until they finally stopped.

"Are you injured?"

Kairi slowly opened her eyes and gave a shuddering gasp, the Ghost Rider was now standing right in front of her, staring down at her with those red orb of fire where his eyes would be.

"Are you injured?" he asked again, Kairi slowly shook her head. "Then you need to leave, now."

Kairi opened her mouth to say something but she was cut off with a loud, "Now!"

Scrambling to her feet she stumbled her way to the exit, pushing open the gates that led outside and was about to step through when she turned around and said a quick, "Thank you."

Even if Kairi waited around for him to respond, which she didn't, he still said nothing. He waited for her to get far enough before he gave a sharp whistle, from the distance the roar of an engine came to life and like a horse being called Sora's motorcycle rode up to him obediently. The Ghost Rider walked up to the bike but he did not mount it, not yet, instead he placed his hands on it and fire poured out and into the bike. The moment the fire touched the bike it began to change: the metal of the bike looked like it had melted and turned to a darkish blue color. The front and back wheels had both caught on fire, but didn't melt away the wheel; instead it burned brightly against the darkness. The windshield melted into a dark blue and two yellow eyes appeared on it, making it look like a creature instead of a motorcycle.

The Ghost Rider gave an appreciative grunt before swinging his leg over his bike and gunning the engine, the bike gave a demonic roar and he shot out and onto the streets, leaving a small trail of flames as he drove off. But as he drove off he failed to notice the large figure that was watching him drive off, with heavy footsteps the figure moved to the streets and eyed the trail of flames that the motorcycle left.

"Well, this puts an interesting spin on tonight's events. Should be fun."

* * *

><p>The Ghost Rider had been driving for hours, like an aimless traveler with no map or sense of direction. The first night is always like this for all Ghost Riders, the human self is suppressed and the spirit takes complete control, acting on its single goal to protect the innocent and punish the guilty. It was probably a good thing that on this night that the spirit was more dominant than the human side: because Sora Shimomura would not have rescued Kairi. However despite the encounter back then there hasn't been anymore for the whole night, he covered all of Hell's Highway and drove throughout most of the city and still no signs of any more of those skeletal creatures or where they came from. Of course he had no idea...that the source of the monsters has been following him, patiently waiting for the right moment to strike. That moment happened to be when the Ghost Rider was passing through the city's cemetery, he heard the noise before it hit him but it wasn't enough to stop it.<p>

The Ghost Rider flew off of his bike and crashed through several grave stones, hitting at least five before he stopped against the sixth one. He gave a growl as he slowly got up, using the still intact grave stone to steady himself. Across the cemetery he saw his attacker, a skeletal biker like the others...but bigger, the bones were more menacing than the others, this one had horns on its head and with each footstep it took it shook the earth.

"So... this is the legendary Ghost Rider."

The Ghost Rider stood up to full height, cracking his neck as he stared at his attacker but he did not speak.

"No words? Not even a 'go back to hell'? I am disappointed."

The attacker took a few steps forward before his foot bumped against the fallen motorcycle, Ghost Rider's skull looked down at the bike and looked at his attacker.

"Don't touch my bike."

Ghost Rider snapped his hand forward and the chain shout out and wrapped around his attackers arm, but in a rather surprising move his attacker laughed, grabbed the chain and with a lunge he swung the Ghost Rider around and threw him backwards. The Rider yelled out as he bounced against the cemetery grounds like a rag doll, when he finally rolled to a stop his attacker wasted no time and broke into a run after him. With huge steps he bounded to the Ghost Rider as he was still getting up, he would have him within seconds. The Ghost Rider had to think quickly, shooting his chain out again but not at his attacker this time this time he directed the chain around two grave stones and pulled the chain taunt. As he hoped his attacker tripped on the chain and crashed to the ground and with the huge bounds he was making it was quite the crash, which took him to the ground long enough for the Ghost Rider get up and grab him.

"Who are you? Who are you working for?" The Ghost Rider asked, slamming the creature to the ground when he did not answer. "Tell me now! What are your creatures doing!"

The horned creature laughed in response and so Ghost Rider slammed him back to the ground, "I know they're stealing human souls, I saw all their sins, but I want to know why! Why are they taking human souls?!"

"Of all the things to worry about," the horned creature chuckled, "I would worry about yourself right now."

He pointed his boney finger to look ahead and when Ghost Rider looked up he saw it... the sun began to rise, and the moment the sunlight touched his body he felt weird. The Rider felt like tons of pressure was being forced on his body, he let go of the horned creature and looked at his hands: he saw the flame had died and skin began to grow back on his hand. He cried out and fell to the ground writhing in pain as he was being forced back into human form, the brighter the sun got the more human Ghost Rider looked. Soon his skin was fully recovered and his hair had grown back, he had turned back into Sora.

"Ah," The horned creature laughed, "There's the rub about being the Ghost Rider: you can only be the Ghost Rider if it's dark and in the presence of evil, but in the daylight you will be mortal, which means I can kill you quite easily now."

The monster pulled out a shotgun and aimed it at Sora, who was too weak from to even move. Just as the monster was beginning to pull the trigger there was a yell and from the tall trees that stood on the cemetery plot a floating red cloak appeared and floated over Sora. Before the monster could react, the sound of gunfire filled the air and bullets shout out from the red cloak, slamming into the creature. The horned biker threw up his arms to protect itself, and while it did that the cloak floated over to the motorcycle and seemly consumed that as well, then flying to the city as if it was being guided by a strong wind. When the horned monster lowered its arms in time to see the cloak fly off he cursed loudly, running off away from the graveyard to the dark alleys of the city. For the Rider wasn't the only one who couldn't stand the sunlight.


	6. Chapter 6: Home Truths

And we're back one week later, now for the new chapter 6 of Ghost Rider. Thanks to all who gave me their comments on the previous chapter and hope you stick with it.

This chapter was performed by:

Michael Fri: Sora Shimomura  
>Anthony Dubé-Leblanc: Vincent Valentine<br>Wuten: Ghost Rider  
>Elena Crall: Kairi Nomura<br>Philossus: Mephisto  
>HoneybunSenpai: Young Sora Shimomura<br>With  
>Peach Gore: The Narrator<p>

Now let us begin.

* * *

><p>Chapter 6: Home Truths<p>

Sora awoke in a fearful sweat, his throat felt like dry sandpaper and his head felt like a hammer was brought down on it. He looked over to his left and saw a small wooden stool with tiny tin cups on it, he picked one up and realized that they were filled with water and without hesitation he drank the contents. When he finished the first cup he grabbed the next one and finished that one too, and then next one and he kept going until he consumed every drop of precious water. When Sora finished the last one he felt a little better, but his throat still burned painfully. He stood up to got to the bathroom when he realized one important detail: this wasn't even his bedroom.

He was so concerned with drinking the water that he never even realized it; the entire room was made of wood; the desks, chairs, and even the bed he slept on were the same color as the walls. Sora heard an odd sound and he looked up towards the ceiling. Above his head were multiple sets of turning gears, whirring and clicking above him. He was feeling nervous now, and he walked over to a window in the corner of the room. When he looked out of it, he nearly fainted; he could see the entire city below him. The apartment complexes and the shopping malls were all tiny little statues to him.

"Ah, you're awake now."

Sora whirled around to the direction of the voice, out in the middle of the room was a man who had long black hair that was held off his eyes by a bandana, a red cloak that was ankle length and tattered at the ends, black leather folds and armor was what the man's clothes were mostly made of and his eyes was this dark crimson that was almost animal like.

"Who are you?" Sora asked, but as soon as he did his dry throat got the best of him and he ended up coughing.

The man noticed this for walked over to him and pulled a small water bottle from the inside of his cloak.

"Drink," he commanded gently, "It will help your throat."

Sora took the water bottle and he immediately began to drink the soothing water, after a few minutes the burning feeling faded and he felt a little better.

"Thank you," Sora gasped, trying to catch his breath from gulping down the water.

"Don't mention it," The man answered, "All the Ghost Riders experience this after their first transformation."

Sora froze; _did he just say Ghost Rider, where have I heard that name before?_ Sora closed his eyes and tried to think back about last nights events. He didn't remember much, but he did have this odd dream about the man from when he was younger, he told him something about 'The Binding' and next thing he knew was his face had melted off to become this horrifying monster. _But that was a dream_, _it couldn't be real… could it?_

"I know what you're thinking," The man stated, "That last night was only a dream right? Well it wasn't, it was very much real, and it will happen again."

"Who are you?" Sora asked again, and the man just laughed.

"My name isn't important, because the question really is: who are _you_?" The man pointed at him, that's when Sora saw that his left hand was not a human hand, but actually it was a gold colored claw.

He backed away fearfully and the man continued to speak, unaware of Sora's fear.

"You are the Rider, the Ghost Rider. You better get used to it quickly, because if you don't you'll end up having a comfortable spot in the nearest cemetery," The man chuckled darkly.

Sora did not see what was so amusing about dead people jokes right at the moment; he was more concerned about not being a dead person.

"Yeah, listen," Sora said nervously, "I um, really have to be going now, so um… see you around!"

Sora tried to bolt towards the door, but when he turned to the door he ran into the man instead. Now the thing is he swore the man was in the middle of the room, and not in front of the door.

"How did you—," Sora gasped, but the man interrupted him.

"You are not the only one who has special powers." The man responded enigmatically, "Nor are you the only creature that goes bump in the night."

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked, stepping backwards again.

The man paused, and then he looked at him dead in the eye and asked, "Do you really want to know?"

Sora nodded and the man sighed wearily and closed his eyes, after awhile he opened them back up and the eyes were catlike and slanted, his teeth were larger and sharper looking too. There was only one creature of the night Sora could stutter right off the bat.

"Holy!" Sora yelled, stepping backwards and falling over. "You're a...you're a...what ARE you?!"

The man blinked at him, "W-what _am_ I? You mean you can't tell what I am?"

Sora nodded and he sighed, "I am a vampire...you know, Dracula, Angel-"

"Okay I got it."

"-That guy from that show Moonlight-"

"I said I got it."

"-Edward Cullen-"

"I got it okay!" Sora interrupted, giving an aggravated sigh before a rush of fear passed through him. "Wait...you're a vampire-"

"Very astute." he sarcastically quipped.

"-W-wouldn't you be starving?" Sora stuttered, and the man laughed a little at that.

"Oh, that. No I stopped drinking from live humans a long time ago. I have connections in a blood bank, they give me the blood they can't use," The man replied, pointing towards a few bottles that have a hospital tag on them. "Like that guy in-"

"-Moonlight, yeah, gotcha...so that's why the hospitals are always looking for donors," Sora nervously laughed.

The man smiled a little at that, but he didn't say anything else. Then he walked back over to a desk, pulled out a folder, and turned to Sora.

"Vincent," he said.

"Huh?" Sora asked, not exactly sure what he meant.

"My name," he answered, "My name is Vincent Valentine."

"Oh!" Sora gasped, "Oh your name, right, right. I'm—,"

"Sora Shimomura," Vincent answered, "I know, I've been keeping an eye out on you."

"You have?"

"I have, " Vincent replied absentmindedly, "But we're not talking about you right now, we have more important things to discuss."

Before Sora could argue Vincent pulled out a newspaper clipping and handed it over to Sora. He took the clipping and read the headline that was circle in a red line, Sora's face paled at the red line and wild gruesome thoughts came to his head about where the line came from.

"It's a red fountain pen," Vincent stated, and then he reached into a desk and pulled out a bright red pen.

Sora felt his own face go red as he murmured, "R-right, I knew that."

Not wanting to see Vincent's expression, he turned to the clipping and read off the headline.

"Angel's Heart hospital staff interview on the recent comatose patients," Sora paused...feeling a tug in the back of his mind, like...this was something he knew the answer to, but he couldn't remember it. Vincent nodded for him to continue, "The Chief of medicine states that they have no logical diagnosis on the recent coma patients, as most people know all the comatose patients were found in Hell's Highway—which is noted for it's 'abnormal' occurrences— and are mostly consistent of homeless people, abandoned children and drunken workers."

Sora lowered the clipping and shrugged his shoulders, "Why did you show me this?"

"This concerns you," Vincent answered, "How well do you remember your time as the Ghost Rider?"

Sora paused, once again trying to recall the events of the previous night. Finally after awhile he sat down on the bed and he sighed heavily.

"No much, it felt more like a dream, I couldn't move right, or even think clearly… felt like I was drunk, maybe I was drunk."

"I highly doubt that," Vincent said gruffly, "Ghost Riders experience these feelings during their first transformation."

"Not so big on transforming either."

"That will also get easier," Vincent assured, "It won't be as drawn out as the first time, or as painful."

"Well maybe there won't be a next time."

"There will be a next time, expect that when you're the Ghost Rider."

"What the hell IS a Ghost Rider?!" Sora yelled, "you keep saying I am this thing but I don't remember it, maybe...maybe you're just making it up! Maybe there is no Ghost-"

At that moment laughter echoed in Sora's head, it was monstrous, loud and eerily familiar. He put his hands to his head to block out the sound but instead images rushed into his head, he remembered things now...he remembered the steel mill...he remembered fighting these monsters...he remembered a girl, a beautiful girl, with red as bright as fire...he remembered fighting a larger monster with horns on his head and...that was it. When he opened his eyes he looked at Vincent with a sense of clarity and seeing that clarity Vincent paused for a minute, and then he pulled back his cloak and seated himself in a wood stool.

"You want answers? That's fine with me: the Ghost Rider is the devil's bounty hunter, they are sent to go after any evil soul who escapes from Hell. They are people who made deals in exchange for their own soul, on the rare occasion one of the few have potential to serve the devil and be his Ghost Rider," Vincent paused for a moment, and after awhile he added, "I found it odd that the devil would go back to using Ghost Riders, ever since what happened last time I would have thought he would avoided them."

"Wait, there were others?" Sora asked.

"Yes," Vincent nodded, "You are the successor of the previous Rider: Johnny Blaze."

Sora raised his eyebrow and Vincent sighed, "Oh right, you probably only a baby when he was a Rider. Johnny Blaze was one of the few to actually use the power of the Ghost Rider against the devil himself."

"What happened to Johnny Blaze?"

"Well, I assume he is dead now," Vincent stated.

"D-dead? Why would you think that?" Sora asked nervously.

"You are the Ghost Rider now correct? Johnny kept the power of the Rider to help people, Mephisto couldn't use it as long as Johnny was alive," Vincent answered, "But now that you are the Ghost Rider, I can only assume Johnny Blaze is no more."

"Mephisto?" Sora asked hesitantly, as if he was afraid of knowing the answer.

"The man you signed a contract with, the devil himself."

"Contract?" Sora asked confused, "I didn't sign a contract."

Vincent turned around, his eyes slightly widened, "You didn't? You didn't spill a drop of blood on a parchment? Shake his hand? Anything?"

"No," Sora replied, studying Vincent's expression, "I didn't sign anything."

Vincent remained where he was for a long time, then he walked over to the far side of the clock tower and pulled out thick leather bound books. He opened two different books and silently began to read from each one, Sora got up and slowly walked over to him.

"What are you doing? What's going on?" Sora asked, watching Vincent comb through multiple pages of a book.

Vincent answered while looking through the pages, "In order to become a Ghost Rider they need to make a deal with the devil, to exchange your soul for what you desire. If what you say is true, then this could be bad."

"Bad! How bad?" Sora yelped, Vincent cringed at the yelling but he answered as calmly as he could.

"I don't know because this is something different from the other riders, but I'll tell you this: I will figure out what this means."

"And you'll cure me right? Get rid of the whole flaming skeleton thing right?" Sora asked hopefully.

Vincent stopped reading and looked at Sora, "I'm sorry Sora, but I can't remove the power of the Ghost Rider. Only Mephisto can, and he won't do it until you complete what you were set out to do."

"Set out to do?" Sora repeated, and then he remembered what the job the man sent him on was.

"Wait," Sora asked slowly, "Does this have to do with something called The Binding?"

"If Mephisto said that, then that would be the case," Vincent answered, confirming Sora's suspicions.

"I have been sensing that it has been weakening lately," Vincent continued, "But whoever is doing it has kept themselves hidden well, I can't pinpoint whose behind it."

Now Sora could have ignored his instincts, but his curiosity got the best of him at this point.

"What is The Binding?"

Vincent reached out for a book that was also bounded in leather and handed it to Sora. He took the book and waited for Vincent to say something, when he didn't say anything Sora felt prompted to encourage him.

"Um, what good will this book do?"

Vincent pulled out the other ones and began to look through them; there was a long silence in which Sora continued to stand there while Vincent read the other books. Finally getting annoyed by Sora's stare, Vincent looked at him and when he saw the book in his hand unopened he scoffed.

"Why don't you try opening the book and reading it?" Vincent hinted, annoyed that he had to hint him for that.

"Hmph, well fine," Sora mocked, he opened the book where a red bookmark was holding it in place.

**The Binding**

**Many moons ago there was a mighty kingdom; this mighty kingdom was home to scholars of the mystic arts and the occult. There was a council of the most accomplished of the scholars where they would converse and study the occult, and in this council was an intelligent man named Ansem. **

**Ansem dreamed of a world where the occult would bend and shape to the will of men, his knowledge had given the council the ability to manipulate the mystic arts of the elements. They were known as The 7 Alchemists, for each one could manipulate an element that governed our world. **

**But this was not enough for Ansem, for he desired more power. To fulfill this desire he sought a deal with Mephisto, the ruler of the kingdom of Hell. Mephisto had granted him great power in exchange for his soul, but when the time came for Ansem to accept his fate and come to Hell, he refused. Ansem had defied the devil and waged war on any one who dared opposed him.**

**Fearing that their kingdom would fall to Ansem, The 7 Alchemists have sought the council of the Saint Michael and the devil Mephisto. Amongst the discussions it was the devil Mephisto who had come with a solution: he would create a warrior to subdue the mighty Alchemist until the 7 council members can create a seal powerful enough to bind him for all eternity. The 7 Alchemists and Saint Michael agreed with the plan, thus Mephisto had summoned the most courageous warrior in the kingdom and infused him with the power of the demon Zarathos and that day the Ghost Rider was created.**

**The Ghost Rider did battle with Ansem, and when the dark alchemist was weak enough The 7 Alchemists had cast a powerful binding spell that has come to be known as The Binding for the alchemist Ansem was the essence of chaos itself. Heaven, Hell, and the humans of earth had made a pact to never undo the seal of the dark Alchemist. **

"Wow, that was a load of crap," Sora scoffed.

Vincent narrowed his eyes at him and he growled, "The story is true."

"No not the story," Sora explained, "The writing; 'many moons ago'?Not to mention they keep using the word 'mighty' a lot."

"The book is centuries old."

"What you can't find the info on the internet? Don't you have a computer? What's wrong with you?" Sora badgered.

Vincent simply sighed, took back the book, and set it down on the table.

"You should be going, you'll be late for school," Vincent warned, and caused Sora's eyes to widen up.

"School? I completely forgot!" Sora yelped, "Wait! My mom, she doesn't know—,"

"I left a note at her house, she thinks you just left early for school," Vincent assured, "Go through the stairs here, there's something I want to show you."

Vincent led Sora through a door on the far side of the room and they traveled down a long set of stairs. When they finally made it to the first floor, Sora was panting as he descended the last set of stairs.

"Don't you have an elevator or something?" Sora wheezed.

"Kids these days," Vincent muttered, "Think they have to have everything faster than something much simpler."

"What are you, a thousand years old?" Sora joked.

Vincent turned around and narrowed his eyes, "Yes."

Sora's mouth dropped slightly and his eye lids twitched a bit. He tried to say something, but no sounds came out of his mouth. Vincent turned away from Sora and flicked a light switch the lights came on and Sora saw his Fat Boy leaning against the wall, a long chain was wrapped around the back seat.

"I know you don't have your motorcycle's license so stay on the back roads, no one pays attention to bikers there."

Sora nodded, he put the chain in one of the two pouches he had on the side of the bike, Vincent handed him his backpack and his motorcycle helmet (which he probably took from his house), and Sora seated himself on the bike. Vincent pressed a button and the door in front of them opened up to reveal a small path, then he walked up to the front of the bike and he placed his hand on the handlebars.

"You need to come by Hell's Highway tonight and meet me over by the alley, the one behind the market place."

Sora gave Vincent a look and picked up his helmet, before he slipped in on his head he answered, "Why?"

"To begin your training, to show you how to control the power of Ghost Rider," Vincent explained.

"I don't want it," Sora answered through the thick helmet, "Besides I handled those creeps last night just fine."

Vincent smirked, "Actually the Ghost Rider handled those creeps, from now on your senses won't be as dull as last night, you'll be more yourself and you don't have any training or the know how to control your own powers."

"And if I say no?" Sora asked.

"Then I'll pay you a visit instead," Vincent narrowed his eyes, "And you don't want me to do that."

Sora didn't answer him, and Vincent couldn't see his face through his motorcycle helmet. Then Sora switched on the ignition and he turned to Vincent.

"… I'll be there," Sora answered before he pulled the throttle and drove off onto the road.


	7. Chapter 7: Cries of the Innocent

Annnnd we're back, updated a bit later than usual. Went back to school this week, the recording crew of GR needed some help with line stuff so I had to be director and step in and...I made a massive update video about it, anyway, working on some new stuff including a GR Mini-Series so that's gonna be fun. This particular chapter was kind of when some of my actors stepped their game up a bit, got better with performances and such. As always I encourage everyone to listen to it, but in the meantime let's get started.

This chapter was performed by...

Michael Fri: Sora Shimomura  
>Wuten: Ghost Rider<br>Elena Crall: Kairi Nomura  
>Verso: Yuffie Kisaragi<br>JDExists: Wakka Arundel  
>Austin Nebbia: Tidus Davidge<br>Sweetblood: Riku Uematsu  
>Summer Fri: Aerith Gainsborough<br>Iceswolf25: Tifa Lockhart

With...  
>Bobby B.: Cloud Strife<br>13thSyndication: Girl in Trouble  
>Jessica Fernando: Teacher<p>

And...  
>Peach Gore and JDExists as The Narrators<p>

Let's get started.

* * *

><p>Chapter 7: Cries of the Innocent<p>

"Where were you last night? Seifer says you never showed."

Tifa had caught up to Sora just as he was pulling out the necessary books for class, now she was pestering him with questions.

"I got held up okay?" Sora answered, "What did you guys do anyway?"

"Nothing, _they-_" Tifa placed a bitter emphasis on the word. "Can't do anything until Seifer gets the 'stuff' they gave you."

"I'm sorry stuff went to hell last night." Sora sighed, "can Seifer give me another chance? I won't let him down."

"That's what Seifer sent me here to tell you; he said you have one last chance. Come by the museum at 1:00 in the morning with the stuff or otherwise you're out."

_1:00 in the morning… I will probably be done with the training Vincent wanted me to do anyway. _Sora thought, and then he turned to Tifa and answered, "Yeah, I'll be there."

Tifa nodded, "Good, I'll tell them when I see them and I will see you—,"

"Um… excuse me, Tifa?"

Tifa and Sora turned to the voice and Sora almost heard Tifa's heart beat quicken. Cloud Strife was standing there, he had an unsure look on his face and he seemed a little nervous.

"Listen, we've known each other for awhile and I um… I need your help with something, I have a problem and I was wondering if you could help me out?" Cloud asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh totally!" Tifa nodded, "You really saved me last week helping me study for the History test."

"Nah, it's nothing," Cloud smiled, "Anyway, I want to give a present for someone. She likes flowers, and the thing is… I don't know if she would like what I got for her. I'd thought I'd get an outside opinion on these."

Cloud pulled out a small bouquet of red roses; each rose was a lovely crimson and smelled like a sweet summer's breeze. Tifa gasped and she smiled at the small bouquet.

"Oh Cloud those are lovely, how could any girl not want these?" Tifa giggled.

"Oh thank you," Cloud smiled, "Aerith will love these!"

Sora nearly slammed his head on his locker. _Totally saw that one coming_, he thought as he watched Tifa's smile turn to a frown.

"A-Aerith? Those are for Aerith?" Tifa asked, and when Cloud nodded her eyes lost its hopeful shine.

"Yes, thank you for your help Tifa," Cloud smiled as he took the flowers over to Aerith, who just came out of her class.

Sora watched Cloud begin to talk to her, then he pulled out the flowers and he watched Aerith's eyes widen and a blush grow on her face, then Aerith took the flowers and wrapped her arms around Cloud and embraced him. Sora turned to Tifa and saw that she had left already, she was walking down the hall and he swore he heard light sobs coming from her direction.

* * *

><p>Sora walked into homeroom and sat down at his usual spot, hoping that his schoolwork would take his mind away from what was going on. He felt like he was walking in a daze the whole day and just wanted something to pull him out of trance.<p>

"Kairi, are you okay? I heard you were attacked last night."

Sora heard Wakka's Jamaican accent even over the usual chatter before homeroom began; he turned his head and listened in. Mostly because well...he was bored and he desperately needed something to take his mind off the craziness that has been happening lately.

Sora saw Yuffie sit down next to Kairi, Wakka and Tidus were crouched on the floor near her desk and of course Riku was only a desk behind her.

"Yeah what happened? Were you hurt?"

"You were attacked?!" Riku gasped, "Was it Sora?! Did he-"

"No," Kairi answered, "It wasn't Sora and I wasn't hurt at all."

"What happened then?" Riku asked, leaning in to hear her better.

Kairi paused for a minute and she said, "Some guy saved me."

Sora almost winced as Kairi's friends burst out a bunch of questions.

"Who?"

"What was he like?"

"Was he cute?"

Kairi took a deep breath and began to explain, "He was tall, broad shoulders, and he was thin, like _bony_ thin. He wore a leather jacket, and um…"

Kairi had stopped there; she seemed to be struggling with something. Her friends waited patiently for her to continue until finally she came out with the rest of it.

"His face was a skull and it was on fire," Kairi finished quickly.

"What?!" Sora yelped, which caused the entire class to stare in his direction.

He smiled weakly and added, "Oh uh... I just um...well I am surprised! We apparently have a pop quiz today!

"What?! Another one?!" A student from the back of the class yelled, "I can't take this anymore!"

In an awkwardly comedic moment the student ran screaming from the class while everyone stared at the spot where he ran out the door. After a few seconds of awkward silence the class then resumed all their texting and loud conversation, Sora paying fierce attention to Kairi's conversation.

"Kairi… are you off your rocker?" Wakka asked.

"You're not on drugs are you?" Tidus asked, which earned a slap from Yuffie. "Ow! Hey it was a legitimate question!"

"No I'm not," Kairi assured.

"But Kairi that's impossible, how can someone have a skull on fire...well I mean they could but that would be gross and the person would be...dead..." Yuffie trailed off awkwardly and Riku sighed.

"Thanks for that image Yuffie, look Kairi it was obviously a terrifying situation and she just imagined it, maybe it was just a motorcycle helmet or the guy wore a mask with a skull on it."

"… Maybe," Kairi answered, "The night was kind of a blur..."

"See?"

"But... whoever he is, he saved my life and I...I want to find out who he is, I mean I thanked him but that didn't feel like enough."

"Well you could always give him money." Riku suggested.

"Take him on a date?"

"You don't even know if he's cute or not." Tidus pointed out.

"Good point, okay, find out if he's cute and then ask him out," Yuffie paused and then added, "And if he's not cute enough for you give him my number?"

"Oh god, I knew it, I'm dead." Sora groaned quietly, "I've been shot in the head and I am in hell."

"Those are some...um, interesting suggestions guys but I have something better." Kairi said, "There is one way to really thank someone for something like this: make them famous. He, whoever he is, saved my life and no one even knows about it; soon even I will forget who he is and what he did. But before I do, I am going to make sure the entire city knows who he is and what he did for me."

"Sounds romantic," Yuffie sighed.

"Sounds crazy," Tidus scoffed.

"Sounds accurate," Sora muttered weakly, he laid his head on the desk and groaned.

Now he remembered it, the beautiful girl with hair like fire... was Kairi, she was the one he saved last night from those bikers. The girl he swore to spend his entire natural life torturing her, and he went and saved her! _Damn you Ghost Rider,_ he swore. Then the teacher walked in, which was signaling that homeroom was ready to begin.

Sora pulled out his books and gave a heavy sigh; this day was already turning out to be a bad day.

* * *

><p>Sora wasn't a big reader, unless you count comic books, but he wasn't really a versatile person. So if you went into the school's library and saw him on the computer, you would have thought he might be seeing some content the library wouldn't advise. But that was not the case, Sora wasn't looking at hot babes (today anyway), he was doing genuine research: on the Ghost Rider.<p>

Sora typed in Ghost Rider and viewed the results, he scrolled down a bit until he found something from the National Cult Research Community; N.C.R.C. for short. He double clicked the link and in a few minutes he was directed towards a research paper, Sora read the first few bits to realize this is pretty much what Vincent told him; about being the devil's bounty hunter and all. He scrolled a bit more down until he came across an article concerning the powers of the Ghost Rider, he stopped their and read it.

_The Ghost Rider can manipulate the power of Hellfire and can fuse it into objects and weapons; well I knew that…,_ Sora stopped reading and stared at a word highlighted in blue; _Penance Stare? _

He double clicked the name, and the page changed to show a picture of some poorly drawn person trapped by several ropes. He was surrounded by monsters that were clawing and biting at him, beside it was a small article:

**Penance Stare**

**Legend states that the Ghost Rider possesses a power that can take the pain and suffering of the innocent, and turn them against the person who inflicted it. Whenever someone who has spilt innocent blood stares into the eyes of the Ghost Rider will have their soul burned, and they will spend an eternity feeling the pain they have mercilessly inflicted. **

_Holy crap. _Sora thought as he stared at the poor person in the picture. _The hellfire and such was already destructive but...this thing? Wow...man I can't wait to try that!_

Sora was so busy reading the article that he didn't notice light footsteps coming from behind him, when he finally noticed them he nearly leaped out of the chair to look at the sound. The person in question was Aerith, she had an armful of books in her hands and she nearly dropped them when he moved so suddenly.

"Oh, it's you," Sora gasped, thinking it was the librarian, who normally passes by here around this time like clockwork.

"I-I'm sorry, I'll be on my way," Aerith stuttered, trying to secure the books in her hands.

"Relax," Sora frowned, reaching behind his back and closing the article on the computer, "I'm actually just leaving."

"Oh, okay," Aerith nodded slowly, "Well, um, bye."

Sora gave a noncommittal nod, walked down the corridor and out of the library. Aerith was about to leave when she stopped and looked at the computer he was using. _What was he looking at?_ She thought; _it was probably a site with some half naked hoe… maybe I can finally report him in for abusing the library's computer._

Aerith made sure no one was watching her, and then she walked over to the computer and reloaded the previous page. She nearly gasped, it was not what she expected at all; it was some picture of some guy being clawed and bit by some horrid looking monsters. She read the top page of the window and she frowned; _National Cult Research Community?_

Aerith frowned and double checked to make sure Sora wasn't coming back, and then she hit the back button and waited for the page to load. _What were you looking at Sora? What did you look up?_

* * *

><p>This may be an odd comparison, but one could say the lunchroom was kind of like the mall. No I don't mean the mall food court, that would be the most obvious comparison, but sometimes Sora felt like people and conversations just would fly by in the lunchroom like a blur. Even though he was sitting with his friends for some reason he felt like there was a barrier in between them, the knowledge and power of the Ghost Rider made Sora feel like he was separated from the people he felt the closest to. Despite his closest friends being close to him he couldn't stand this...wall in between them.<p>

"Hey guys I am going out for lunch," Sora said, standing up. "I'll see you guys tonight."

He left quickly before they could ask him why, he didn't want to have to sit and awkwardly explain to them what was going on. Sora walked outside the school and proceeded down the sidewalk after a few minutes of walking he grabbed some food from McDonalds and walked back outside. Sitting down on a bench on the sidewalk he sighed, his thoughts had drifted to Vincent's troubling words; something about him not signing the contract to exchange is soul. He didn't know what it all meant, he was still trying to deal with the fact of even _being _the devil's bounty hunter, as well as saving the girl he detested was bad enough.

He decided he needed some fresh air to help absorb it all and he was just planning on sitting there and trying to take it all in, but then something unexpected happened. Sora was just gazing down the street when he saw Aerith of all people, she must have had the same idea as Sora and decided to go out to lunch. He was going to ignore her and continue his own lunch... when he saw a man wearing a baseball hat appear out of nowhere he followed behind Aerith for a few moments and then he grabbed her. As soon as he grabbed her she began to scream like a banshee, Sora saw the man drag her to the alley as she continued to scream.

"Holy shit!"

For the first time in his life...Sora didn't know what to do, he didn't want to get involved with something he didn't need to be involved in. He wish he never saw what happened, in fact he was just about to turn around and walk away...or at least run inside and call the police. But we both know that even if he called the police Aerith would either be gone...or dead. The part that was clawing at Sora was not the fact that he was torn between helping her and running away...but the fact he had the power to save her and he was trying to find excuses on why he shouldn't.

_Just leave it...don't be involved...I'm not a hero...just don't...just walk away. _

He couldn't, her screams, his own thoughts about running away, they stirred something inside him: it was the feeling of guilt. Guilty that he even thought of running away, of leaving her to a man that obviously had bad intentions. He looked at the school, and back at the screams, he lowered his head and stared at the pavement, wrestling with these feelings before he finally he took a deep breath, turned around, and ran to the screams. He made his choice.

* * *

><p>Sora darted through the alley and rounded the corner no one was there but he could still hear Aerith calling out so he kept going, after rounding several more corners he saw the girl who had been screaming earlier and the man who had her pinned to the wall.<p>

"Hey!" Sora yelled, catching the man's attention, "Let her go!"

The man lifted his head to look at him, and then Aerith took her chance: she threw the man off her and took off down the alley to Sora. He grabbed her hand and began to pull her away.

"Sora?!"

"Come on! We gotta go!"

Sora and Aerith quickly ran down the alleys, rounding every corner they could think of to try and get away from their pursuer. For a moment when they thought they were gonna get away...they ran into a dead end, a small chain link fence with a door stood in their way. Sora gave a yell of frustration as he and Aerith pulled on the door with no luck.

"Here! Another door!" she pointed to a door leading into one of the old apartments, they tried the door there...but no luck as well, the man was not far behind...he had to think of something.

"Here, I can boost you and get you over the fence!" Sora yelled, pointing at the top of the chain link fence.

"But what about you?!"

"Don't worry about me just get someone!" Sora could see her hesitation, he grabbed her shoulders and said, "We don't have time alright! Just do it!"

She looked like she wanted to say something else but Aerith seemed to resign to his words and nodded, Sora moved quickly, helping her over the chain fence and to the other side. As soon as she cleared the top she dropped down, turned, and her eyes widened.

"Look out!"

Sora spun around and was face to face with his attacker, who grabbed him and slammed him against the building wall.

"Go!" Sora yelled to Aerith, who took off immediately to find help while Sora and his attacker struggled. He tried to push him off him but the man was much bigger and stronger.

"You shouldn't have interfered," The man growled, hot breath blowing onto Sora's face, almost making him gag. The man then kicked open door leading into the old apartment and pushed Sora inside, devoid of all the sunlight he pushed him into the darkness and against the wall.

He faced his capture and looked him straight in the eyes, but instead of seeing his reflection there was something else being reflected in the man's eyes. Sora squinted his eyes to get a better look at them, and he gasped: in the reflection he saw a woman, screaming for help, he saw a person's hand holding a knife shove it in her stomach, he could see her gasping for air. Then the image changed to a man backing against the wall, suddenly bullets shot out and hit the man, he slumped against the wall, lifeless.

_Oh my god… did he kill these people? Did he murder them?! _Sora thought, feeling a powerful rage erupt within him. Sora saw another one of his crimes, he saw a teenager...another young girl like the one he saved today... he saw a knife being raised...he could hear her pleading...crying...sobs filling the air... and he saw the knife being brought down on the helpless girl.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sora screamed in rage, and he bellowed in a raspy demonic voice, "MURDERERRRRR!"

Sora saw the man's eyes widen in fear and he felt the sensation of his hands burning, but he was more focused on his burning rage. He felt the familiar hot flames melt his skin, but he only felt the flames of hate. Soon the man let go of Sora, who fell to his knees, and allowed the flames of hate and rage overtake him. Soon Sora was gone in a sea of flames and was replaced with the Ghost Rider.

He stood back up, pointed at the man, and said in his raspy demonic voice, "You… guilty."

The man had backed up against the wall, trying to find a way to escape, but Sora had already walked up to him and hoisted him off his feet.

"Look into my eyes," the Ghost Rider commanded as the man struggled to break free.

"Your soul is stained by the blood of the innocent," he continued, the man was now looking straight in his fiery eye sockets as he growled, "Feel their pain."

Then the man began to scream in pain and agony, his eyes reflected new images: now it was the woman stabbing him in the gut, he was now the one gasping in pain. He was also now the one getting shot by the man, with him slumping against the wall from the force of the bullets. At last, he was the one on the ground, a stranger above him holding a knife, and the teen bringing it down upon him. The man's eyes became encased with an earthy substance, glowing red cracks in the earthy substance revealed the man screaming in eternal pain, he felt no remorse, he deserved eternal pain.

Sora dropped the man and he fell on the floor, unmoving, how could you if your soul is being eternally burned? He stared at the man as he backed up out of the house and into the sun's light, when it illuminated upon his bony appearance it changed him back to human form. Realizing that he shouldn't stay here any longer; Sora took off towards the school, his thoughts burning with rage and sadness.

* * *

><p>Sora finished his lunch and quickly ran into Biology class, just as the teacher was addressing today's subject.<p>

"Okay class, today we will be studying the antimony of animals, starting with ever popular…," she gave a dry chuckle, "Dissecting a frog, people who feel like upchucking can leave at any time."

Sora sat in his chair and looked down at the frog below him, the dissecting knife to his side. Slowly and carefully he picked up the knife and held it in his hands, he positioned it over the frog and was about to make the first incision when an unbidden memory rose:

_The image of a woman in front of him, his knife plunging in her skin, blood on his hands… _

Sora shook his head, clearing the memory of the woman he saw. He repositioned the knife in his hands, and was about to try again to make an incision when he heard the clicking of a pen, and that clicking noise raised another image:

_He positioned the 9 millimeter in front of him, watching the man back up fearfully. He squeezed the trigger and watched as the bullets were loaded into the man, and a dark familiar satisfaction filled him as the man slumped…_

Sora was beginning to sweat, he felt the knife go slack in his hands; what was going on? He heard snickering from the neighboring students, snickering at the oh-so-tough Sora because he couldn't seem to handle sticking a knife in a dead creature. He glared at all of them and tightened his grip on the knife, this time he would do it. He held the knife above him, staring at the frog below him, motionless and helpless.

_He saw the teenager below him, pleading and screaming but he ignored it, without another word he raised the knife and brought it down, blood and tears soaked his hands he looked into her eyes—,_

"AGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" Sora screamed, dropping the knife, "NOOOOOOOOO!"

He felt everyone stare at him, but he didn't care. He looked at his hands; the same hands that held the sharp killing instrument, then he felt sick and he ran out of the room. He rushed towards the bathroom and into a stall; there it let loose his lunch from earlier. After he was finished spewing it all he leaned his head on the toilet and began to cry, he let all the sadness out, all the sorrow at the injustice he was forced to watch.

"How could he…" Sora sobbed, "They didn't do anything… not even I would kill anyone, how could he?"

_Did all those people you tease everyday do anything? Did they? _His inner voice spoke, even through all of the insanity in his own head it was very clear sounding. Sora felt sick again, but he didn't throw up. He wanted to but he couldn't, he wanted to do a lot of things to forget what he witnessed but soon he would come to realize that it wasn't his chose. He would soon come to realize that his first usage of the Penance Stare forced him to open his eyes to see the path he's on, his supposed crusade for personal justice, his quest to make people's lives feel miserable and to ask himself: was it worth it?

Sora continued to sob, for the woman, for the man, and for the young girl but that was not the thing that scared him the most, what scared him the most was the fact that the one killing those people was not the man whose soul he had burned in that abandoned house... but himself.

* * *

><p>Like most teenagers, Yuffie had an after school job, her job involved her working at a clothing store owned by Cid Highwind. She was in charge of making sure people could find the desired clothes, of course it would have been easier if they had more employees, but no one had been interested in working at a clothing store. Yuffie walked past the last rack of clothes and greeted the person walking in the store.<p>

"Welcome to Cid's accessories," Yuffie chirped, "how can I— Kairi!"

The person who had entered the store was Kairi, which surprised Yuffie because normally she would shop at the mall or some other store.

"Why are you here? Are you actually buying something?" Yuffie asked, however Kairi shook her head.

"No not today, look, I know you guys didn't believe me when I told you about last night…"

"Kairi, you told us that a skeleton who had caught on fire saved you from a bunch of thugs," Yuffie laughed, "Yeah, how could anyone believe it?"

"True…"Kairi frowned, "But I think I can prove he exists."

Yuffie raised her eyebrow: Kairi wouldn't stop talking about how she was saved by, as she put it, a heroic monster in fact despite that they tried to dispute her story in class today they could see in her eyes that the desire to find this person never left. Kairi saw the doubt in her eyes and sighed.

"At least hear me out?"

"Ummm, okay," Yuffie answered skeptically, "How are you going to do it?"

Kairi smiled devilishly, happy that Yuffie heard her out, "Bring a camera and meet me, Tidus, Wakka, Riku, and Namine over at Hell's Highway."

"Hell's Highway!" Yuffie yelped, causing Cid -the storeowner- to look at her direction.

Yuffie and Kairi smiled back nervously and Cid just shrugged, and then he disappeared behind some clothing racks. When he was gone Yuffie rounded on Kairi.

"Are you insane?!" Yuffie whispered, "You got lucky last time, it doesn't mean you'll get lucky again!"

"I know, that's why I asked Tidus, Wakka, and Riku to come with us."

"You asked those three?" Yuffie responded in a deadpan tone. "No offense to them but they're not exactly the three I'd choose to be my protectors..."

"Oh? Who would you choose then?"

"Liam Neeson!" Yuffie chirped instantly, Kairi blinked at her response. "You know...Liam Neeson! He was in that movie with the daughter being taken?"

"Um...I never saw it."

Yuffie's jaw dropped as if Kairi just admitted to some heinous sin, "How do you- how did you not see- oh nevermind! Kairi this is crazy! Are you seriously going to risk yourself again for some total stranger?!"

Kairi's eyes narrowed and she straightened herself, "Yes, yes I am and while I am at it let me make myself clear, I am going to go find the man, or thing, that saved my life and I am going tonight. Whether or not you join me makes little difference."

"And what if I decide to call the police?"

"I am the mayor's daughter, with a single phone call the police would have other things to do than stop a couple of teenagers in Hell's Highway. I am going and you can't stop me, but you can join me if you'd like."

Yuffie paused, she tightened her lips together and darted her eyes from side to side. What Yuffie wasn't aware of is that Kairi didn't have that kind of power, sure she was the daughter of the Mayor but they wouldn't listen to her...and her father's reelection was coming up if she tried to abuse his power like that she'd be in a lot of trouble. Kairi waited patiently and finally Yuffie gave an annoyed growl.

"Oh all right I'll come along!" Yuffie assured, "You're sure of this plan?"

"I'll prove to you he exists," Kairi smiled, "I'm sure of it."

"I don't care about that, I'm just going to make sure you don't get yourself killed. I don't want you to end up dead somewhere like Maggie Grace's character."

"Fine with me," Kairi said, turning around and headed for the exit, as she was pushing open the door a sly smile crossed her face as she turned to face her friend. "Oh Yuffie? The character you were referring to wasn't Maggie Grace's character, she was the daughter, I think you were referring to Katie Cassidy's character, she played her friend."

Kairi brandished a winning smile as she closed the store door, leaving a jaw dropped Yuffie in her wake.


End file.
